PH dollar reserves hit 29-month high
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2019 16:48:52 +0000
THE Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) rose to a 29-month high of $83.198 billion in March, a development the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributed to its foreign exchange operations and investment income plus foreign currency deposits by the government.
The figure — the largest since October 2016’s $85.105 billion — was also 0.50 percent and 3.33 percent higher, respectively, from February and a year ago, preliminary data released on Friday showed.
The month-on-month increase was due “mainly to inflows arising from the national government’s net foreign currency deposits, BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad,” the central bank said in a statement.
These were partially tempered by national government payments for foreign exchange obligations as well as revaluation losses from the BSP’s gold holdings as global prices of the metal fell.
The latest reserve level was enough to cover 7.3 months worth of imports, the same buffer as in February but lower than the 7.6 months posted a year earlier. It was also equivalent to five times the country’s short-term external obligations due within one year and 3.4 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to $83.19 billion compared to $82.77 billion a month earlier.
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