PH reserves rise to $101.1B in Oct

THE country's gross international reserves (GIR) rose to $101.1 billion in October, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported late on Wednesday, up from $98.1 billion a month earlier.

The surge was mainly due to national government foreign currency deposits, the central bank said in a statement. This includes money from the sale of retail onshore dollar bonds, a rise in the value of BSP's gold reserves due to higher global gold prices, and the BSP's foreign exchange activities and income from overseas investments.

The latest GIR level «represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income,» the BSP said.

It is also equivalent to around 5.9 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.7 times based on residual maturity.

GIR levels are considered adequate if it can finance at least three months' worth of the country's imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

Net international reserves, which comprise the difference between GIR and reserve liabilities, rose to $100.4 billion from the end-September level of $98.1 billion.

GIR consists of the BSP's foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position in the International Monetary Fund and special drawing rights.

Sought for comment, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the «still relatively high GIR at $101.1 billion could still strengthen the country's external position, which is a key pillar for the country's continued favorable credit ratings for the second straight year.»

«The continued increase in fundraising and other investment banking activities by the country's biggest companies… could entail some increase in foreign investment inflows that could add to the country's balance of payments and GIR on a cash flow basis,» he added.