The country’s gross international reserves as of end-November 2019 rose $0.56 billion to an all-time high of $86.39 billion from $85.83 billion a month ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
The BSP said in a statement the increase reflected the inflows arising from the foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad, and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits.
“The end-November level of the GIR provides ample external liquidity buffer that is equivalent to 7.5 months worth of imports of goods and services and payments of primary income,” the BSP said.
They are also equivalent to 5.6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, also increased $0.56 billion to $86.38 billion as of end-November from the end-October 2019 level of $85.82 billion.