Philippine int'l reserves rise to 87.61 bln USD by February 2020

Source: Xinhua | 2020-03-07

The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level rose by 0.74 billion U.S. dollars from 86.87 billion U.S. dollars as of end-January 2020 to 87.61 billion U.S. dollars as of end-February 2020, the Philippine central bank said on Friday.

At this level, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the GIR can cover 7.7 months' worth of imports of goods and services and payments of primary income.

"It is also equivalent to 5.4 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity," the BSP said in a statement.

The BSP said the month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected inflows arising from the national government's net foreign currency deposits and BSP's net foreign exchange operations.

"These inflows were partly offset, however, by payments made by the NG for servicing its foreign currency debt obligations," the BSP added.

The BSP said net international reserves (NIR), which refers to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities, likewise increased by 0.74 billion U.S. dollars to 87.6 billion U.S. dollars as of end-February 2020 from the end-January 2020 level of 86.86 billion U.S. dollars.