Philippine forex reserves see rise in January

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine Gross International Reserves (GIR) reached $80.18 billion in January, higher than the revised $79.54 billion in December last year, The Central Bank of the Philippines' (BSP) said today.

"The increase in reserves was due mainly to the national government's net foreign currency deposits, revaluation adjustments on the BSP's gold holdings and foreign currency- denominated reserves, and income from its investments abroad," The central bank said.

These were partly counterbalanced by payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange-denominated obligations, the central bank noted.

The GIR reflects a country's ability to pay for imports of goods and services and to service foreign debt.

The latest figure is enough to cover 10.3 months' worth of the imports of goods and payments of services and income, and also equivalent to 8.3 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.7 times based on residual maturity.

In 2013, foreign exchange reserves summed up to $83.187 billion, slightly below the $83.572 billion in 2012.