08.08.2012 The country’s preliminary gross international reserves (GIR) rose to US$79.3 billion as of end-July 2012, higher by US$3.2 billion than the end-June 2012 GIR of US$76.1 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. announced today.1 The end-July 2012 GIR level could adequately cover 11.7 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It is also equivalent to 10.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 6.4 times based on residual maturity.2
The increase in the end-July 2012 GIR level was due mainly to the foreign exchange operations of the BSP, foreign currency deposits by the Treasurer of the Philippines (TOP), income from investments abroad of the BSP, and revaluation gains on the BSP’s gold holdings arising from the increase in the price of gold in the international market. These were partially offset, however, by outflows for the payments by the National Government (NG) of its maturing foreign exchange obligations and foreign currency withdrawals by authorized agent banks (AABs).
Net international reserves (NIR), which include revaluation of reserve assets, increased by US$3.2 billion to reach US$79.3 billion as of end-July 2012, compared to the end-June 2012 NIR of US$76.1 billion. NIR refers to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities.
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1 The final data on GIR are released to the public every 19th day of the month in the Statistics section of the BSP’s website under the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS). If the 19th day of the month falls on a weekend or is a non-working holiday, the release date shall be the working day nearest to the 19th.
2 Short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.
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