By Joann Santiago
MANILA, May 7 (PNA) — The Philippines continues to enjoy large foreign reserves, which as of April 2015 stood at US$ 80.8 billion, slightly up against month-ago’s US$ 80.5 billion.
Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Thursday showed that the country’s preliminary gross international reserves (GIR) at the end of the first four months this year is higher than the US$ 79.8 billion same period in 2014.
BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. attributed the hike in the country’s foreign reserves to net foreign currency deposits of the national government (NG) and earnings of the central bank’s investments overseas.
The current level of the country’s foreign reserves is enough to cover 10.6-month worth of goods and payments of services and income, he said.
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, with the latter defined as the “outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.”
Tetangco said the increase in GIR was limited by the payment by the NG of its maturing foreign currency-denominated debt and revaluation adjustments on the central bank’s gold holdings.
Similarly, the country’s net international reserves (NIR) during the same period went up to US$ 80.8 billion from US$ 80.4 billion year-ago.
NIR refers to the difference between the GIR and the total short-term liabilities. (PNA)