“‹THE gross international reserves declined to $80.6 billion at the end of Februaryfrom $81.2 billion in January, pulled down by the government’s settlement of maturing foreign exchange obligations, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said Wednesday.
Other reasons cited for the lower reserves were the outflows arising from the foreign exchange operations of the Bangko Sentral and the revaluation adjustments on the regulator’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of the precious metal in the international market.
“These were partially tempered by the national government’s net foreign currency deposits [which include proceeds from the new money component of the ROP global bonds issuance under the government’s liability management transactions) and income from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations,” Espenilla said.