The country’s gross international reserves (GIR), an indicator of capacity to pay maturing foreign debt and trade obligations, stood lower in September to $98.7 billion from $99.6 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Friday.
The diminution resulted from payments the national government made on its foreign currency obligations and to the diminished value of its gold holdings during the period.
Gold has fallen to only $1,819 per ounce from three months earlier when this stood at $1,922 per ounce, according to the World Gold Council. The GIR represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, the BSP said.
It is also 5.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.6 times based on residual maturity.
The net international reserves (NIR), or the difference between the GIR and reserve liabilities (short-term foreign debt and credit and loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)), decreased by $900 million to $98.7 billion as of end-September 2023 from the end-August 2023 level of $99.5 billion.
