MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, said preliminary data showed that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) increased to USD80.8 billion as of end-April 2015.
The April figure is USD300 million higher than the March 2015 GIR of USD80.5 billion, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr announced on BSP’s website.
The USD0.3 billion increase in reserves was due mainly to the National Government’s (NG) net foreign currency deposits and the BSP’s income from investments abroad.
These were partially offset by the NG’s payments for its maturing foreign exchange obligations and revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings, the BSP said.
The end-April 2015 GIR level remains ample as it can cover 10.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income.
It is also equivalent to 4.8 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.7 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves (NIR), which refer to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, also increased to US$80.8 billion as of end-April 2015, compared to the end-March 2015 NIR of US$80.4 billion. – BusinessNewsAsia.com