PH dollar reserves at all-time high in Nov
Credit to Author: Mayvelin U. Caraballo, TMT| Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2019 16:20:22 +0000
THE country’s gross international reserves (GIR) hit an all-time high of $86.39 billion in November boosted by the central bank’s foreign exchange operations and investment income, as well as government’s foreign currency deposits.
The figure surpassed the previous all-time high reserves level of $86.13 billion recorded in September 2016 as well as the $83 billion projection of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for this year.
It was 1.23-percent and 14.15-percent higher than those posted in October and a year ago, respectively, preliminary BSP data released on Friday showed.
In a statement, the central bank said the month-on-month increase “reflects the inflows arising from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits.”
The latest reserve level was enough to cover 7.5 months’ worth of imports, the same buffer in October but higher than the 6.5 months a year earlier, respectively.
It was also equivalent to 5.6 times the country’s short-term external obligations due within one year and 4.1 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to $86.38 billion from $85.82 billion a month earlier.
GIR are foreign assets that are readily available to and controlled by the BSP for direct financing of payment imbalances, and for managing the magnitude of such imbalances. It consists of holdings of gold, special drawing rights, foreign investments, and foreign exchange, including reserve position in the fund.