The country’s gross international reserves declined to a nine-month low of $82.73 billion in November, amid the drop of the peso against the US dollar and ahead of the expected interest rate hike in the United States.
Data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed the GIR fell $2.38 billion from $85.11 billion in October. This was also the lowest level of reserves in nine months.
Bangko Sentral said the reserves went down as the government settled its foreign exchange obligations and the value of gold dropped.
“The decline from October to November was due mainly to outflows arising from the foreign exchange operations of the BSP, revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the decrease in the price of gold in the international market, and payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations,” Bangko Sentral said in a statement.
“These were partially offset by the national government’s net foreign currency deposits along with the BSP’s income from investments abroad,” the regulator said.
The end-November reserves level could cover 9.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It was also equivalent to 5.9 times the country’s short-term external debt.