End-January 2014 GIR Stands at $78.9B
Manila—(PHStocks)—Preliminary data showed that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) reached $78.9 billion as of end-January 2014, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. announced recently. This level was lower by $4.3 billion than the end-December 2013 GIR of $83.2 billion.
The level of reserves remains comfortable as it can amply cover 11.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. The GIR is also equivalent to 7.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.6 times based on residual maturity.
The decline in reserves was due mainly to the foreign exchange operations of the BSP and payments by the National Government (NG) for its maturing foreign exchange obligations. These outflows were partially offset by the foreign currency deposits of the Treasurer of the Philippines (TOP), income from investments of the BSP and revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings.
Net international reserves (NIR), which refer to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, also decreased by $4.3 billion to reach $78.9 billion as of end-January 2014, compared to the end-December 2013 NIR of $83.2 billion.
