End-August 2016 GIR Level Rises to $85.9B
Manila—(PHstocks)—Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)—Preliminary data showed that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) rose to US$85.90 billion as of end-August 2016, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. announced today.
This level was higher by US$0.39 billion than the end-July 2016 GIR of US$85.51 billion due mainly to the National Government’s (NG) net foreign currency deposits and the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad. These were partially offset by payments made by the NG for its maturing foreign exchange obligations and revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the decrease in the price of gold in the international market.
The end-August 2016 GIR level can cover 10.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It is also equivalent to 6.0 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.3 times based on residual maturity.2
Net international reserves (NIR), which refer to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, also increased by US$0.39 billion to US$85.89 billion as of end-August 2016, compared to the end-July 2016 NIR of US$85.50 billion.