GIR hits 7-month high, closes 2018 at $78.5B
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2019 16:30:53 +0000
THE Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) rose to a seven-month high in December, ending the year at $78.460 billion, which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) traced to its foreign exchange operations, the government’s net foreign currency deposits and higher gold prices.
The figure is 3.6 percent up from November and is also the largest since May’s $79.202 billion, BSP data released on Monday showed, but is lower than the $81.569 billion recorded a year ago.
The month-on-month increase was said to be due “mainly to inflows arising from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations, net foreign currency deposits by the national government and revaluation gains from BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market.” the central bank said in a statement.
These were partially tempered by national government payments for foreign exchange obligations.
The latest reserve level was enough to cover 6.9 months worth of imports, up from November’s 6.7 months but lower than the 7.7 months posted a year earlier. It was also equivalent to 5.8 times the country’s short-term external obligations due within one year and 4 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to $78.44 billion compared to $75.66 billion a month earlier.
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