MANILA (Xinhua): The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) rose to an all-time high of US$112 billion at the end of September, up from US$107.9 billion at the end of August, the Philippine central bank said Monday.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the September GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 8.1 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
The central bank added that the September GIR level is about 6.3 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.4 times based on residual maturity.
"The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government's net foreign currency deposits with the BSP, which include proceeds from the national government's issuance of Republic of the Philippines Global Bonds.
"The upward valuation adjustments in the BSP's gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, and net income from the BSP's investments abroad," the central bank added. - Xinhua
