PH foreign reserves down to $85.75B in October

MANILA, Philippines – The government’s gross international reserves (GIR) fell slightly in October due to debt obligations and a global fall in the price of gold.

Based on preliminary data, the country’s GIR stood at $85.75 billion as of end-October 2016, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Officer-in-Charge Vicente Aquino said on Monday, November 7.

The figure is lower by $0.39 billion from the end-September 2016 GIR of $86.14 billion.

Net international reserves (NIR), or the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, also decreased by $0.39 billion to $85.74 billion as of end-October 2016, compared to the end-September 2016 NIR of $86.13 billion.

The BSP said the decrease was due mainly to outflows arising from payments made by the government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations, foreign exchange operations, and revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the decrease in the price of gold in the international market.

The central bank noted that this was partially offset by the reclassification of Renminbi-denominated accounts from non-reserve to reserve eligible assets and the government’s net foreign currency deposits, along with the BSP’s income from investments abroad.

The Monetary Board last month approved the inclusion of the Chinese Renminbi (RMB) in the official international reserves of the BSP effective October 13.

The move was done to ensure the availability of the currency in the banking system, given China’s rising economic and financial importance. The Renminbi was also included in the International Monetary Fund’s elite basket of currencies, the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), in October.

The central bank noted that the end-October 2016 GIR level can cover 10 months’ worth of imports of goods as well as payments of services and income.

It is also equivalent to 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.4 times based on residual maturity. – Rappler.com