End-December 2013 GIR Closes at $83.7B

Manila—(PHStocks)—Bangko Sentral ng Pilipines (BSP)—Preliminary data showed that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) increased by $0.1 billion to $83.7 billion as of end-December 2013 from the end-November 2013 GIR level of $83.6 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. announced today.

At this level, reserves can adequately cover 12 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. The GIR is also equivalent to 8.4 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.8 times based on residual maturity.

Contributing to the increase in reserves were the foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad of the BSP as well as foreign currency deposits by the Treasurer of the Philippines (TOP).  These inflows were partially offset by revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings and payments by the National Government (NG) for its maturing foreign exchange obligations.

Net international reserves (NIR), which refer to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, also increased by $0.1 billion to reach $83.7 billion as of end-December 2013, compared to the end-November 2013 NIR of $83.6 billion.