The Philippines’ gross international reserves declined to $101.3 billion as of end-May 2023 from $101.8 billion in April as the government settled some of its foreign debt, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Wednesday.
It said the GIR level in May represented a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It was also about 5.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity.
“The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government’s net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, and downward adjustments in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market,” the BSP said in a statement.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the GIR would be supported by the continued growth in remittances, BPO revenues, exports and tourism revenues in the coming months.
