Philippine August Intl. Reserves Hits All-Time High

Sep 7, 2007 - The Philippine central bank said Friday that the gross international reserves or GIR increased US$2.3 billion month-on-month to reach an all-time high of US$30.3 billion at the end of August. The increase in reserves was mainly due to sustained foreign exchange inflows, which also helped the Central Bank to service its debt and those of the National Government. Receipts of income from investments abroad also contributed to the increase in the GIR level.

The current GIR level can cover imports of goods and payments of services and income for 5.6 months in terms of adequacy of reserves, the central bank noted. Further, the central bank said this level was equivalent to 5.9 times of the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.2 times based on residual maturity.

The Bank added that Net international reserves-NIR, including revaluation of reserve assets and reserve-related liabilities, also stood at US$30.3 billion from the previous month in August. NIR is the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities.