PH dollar reserves rise to 31-month high in May
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:28:09 +0000
THE country’s gross international reserves (GIR), or dollar reserves, rose to a 31-month high of $85.022 billion (P4.42 trillion) last month on the back of the government’s foreign-currency deposits, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) foreign-exchange operations and investment income, as well as higher gold prices.
The figure — the largest since October 2016’s $85.105 billion — was also 1.36 percent and 7.3 percent higher, respectively, than the $83.878 billion posted in April and $79.202 billion 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, and revaluation gains from the BSP’s gold holdings, resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market,” Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a statement on Friday.
These were partially tempered by national government payments for forex obligations, he added.
The latest reserve level was enough to cover 7.5 months worth of imports, higher than the buffer posted in April (7.4 months) and a year ago (7.3 months).
It was also equivalent to 5.1 times the country’s short-term external obligations due within one year and 3.6 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to $85 billion, compared to $83.86 billion a month earlier.
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