Philippine dollar reserves inch up in March

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s dollar reserves improved in March, thanks to the government's deposits with the central bank, whose gold holdings and investments abroad also helped fatten the pile.

Data provided by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Wednesday showed that gross international reserves inched up 2.03% month-on-month to $100.2 billion as of end-March.

“The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s net foreign currency deposits with the BSP, the upward revaluation of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, and net income from the BSP’s investments abroad,” the statement read. 

Foreign reserves are assets held mostly as investments in foreign-issued securities, gold as well as foreign currencies like dollar and euro. Being the lender of last resort, the BSP manages reserves as a stand-by fund to help the economy stay afloat in times of external shocks.

The BSP noted that the latest GIR level represented an external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods, income and payments of services. 

The reserves are 6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity. — Ramon Royandoyan