Reserves hit record high of $112B in Sept
THE country's gross international reserves (GIR) hit a record high in September, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed on Monday.
At $112.0 billion, GIR surged from August's $107.9 billion and was mainly the result of foreign currency deposits by the government, including proceeds from a global bond offering, and net income from the central bank's investments abroad.
The current level was a more than sufficient external liquidity buffer, the BSP said, enough for 8.1 months of imports of goods and payments for services and primary income.
The facade of the Bangko Sentral mg Pilipinas and the Department of Finance as seen from Roxas Boulevard in Manila, Monday. PHOTOS BY J. GERARD SEGUIAIt was also about 6.3 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.4 times based on residual maturity, it added.
The GIR level is 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,» the BSP said.
The level is also considered sufficient «if it provides at least 100-percent cover for the payment of the country's foreign liabilities, public and private, falling due within the immediate twelve-month period.»
AdvertisementNet international reserves, which comprise the difference between GIR and reserve liabilities, rose to $112.0 billion as of end-September from August's $107.8 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, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) senior economist Emilio Neri said the country had benefited from last month's jumbo US Federal Reserve rate cut.
«With more US rate cuts expected BSP can accumulate further as long as it doesn't cut the RRP (reverse repurchase, or benchmark rate) much more aggressively than the Fed,» he added.
AdvertisementRizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort, meanwhile, said the country's dollar inflows were growing due to remittances, business process outsourcing revenues, foreign tourism receipts, and an increase in foreign portfolio
