The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) rose to $106.9 billion as of end-August 2024 from the end-July 2024 level of $106.7 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said over the weekend.
It was the highest GIR level in 29 months, or since reaching $107 billion in March 2022, data from the BSP showed. It also increased by more than $7 billion over the past 12 months from $99.6 billion as of end-August 2023.
The BSP said the latest GIR level represented a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.9 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
It was also about 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.7 times based on residual maturity.
“The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the net income from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ investments abroad,” the BSP said.
The net international reserves, which refers to the difference between the BSP’s reserve assets (GIR) and reserve liabilities (short-term foreign debt and credit and loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increased by $200 million to $106.9 billion as of end-August 2024 from the end-July 2024 level of $106.7 billion.
