February gross international reserves rises to $87.61 billion

March 6, 2020

Gross international reserves (GIR), based on preliminary data, rose by $0.74 billion from $86.87 billion as of end-January to $87.61 billion as of end-February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.

At this level, the GIR can cover 7.7 months' worth of imports of goods and services and payments of primary income. It is also equivalent to 5.4 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.

The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected inflows arising from the National Government's  net foreign currency deposits and BSP's net foreign exchange operations.

These inflows were partly offset, however, by payments made by the National Government for servicing its foreign currency debt obligations.

Net international reserves (NIR), which refers to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities, likewise increased by $0.74 billion to $87.6 billion as of end-February from the end-January level of $86.86 billion. DMS