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SEEN to
hit $37 billion at the end of the year, the country’s
gross international reserves rose by another $100
million to $36.7 billion as at end-April, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Wednesday.
Deputy
BSP Governor and officer in charge Nestor Espenilla Jr.
attributed the increase to loan proceeds obtained by the
national government (NG) from the Asian Development
Bank, as well as income from foreign investments of the
BSP.
A
portion of it represented proceeds from the
foreign-exchange operations of the BSP.
“These
inflows were offset, however, by payments of maturing
foreign currency-denominated obligations of the NG and
the BSP,” Espenilla said.
According to him, the reserves are sufficient cover for
6.2 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of
services and income.
It
should also be sufficient to cover 5.2 times the
country’s short-term external debt based on original
maturity and 3.4 times based on residual maturity.
The net
international reserves for the period, including
revaluation of reserve assets and reserve-related
liabilities, was also higher at $36.7 billion compared
to the previous month’s level of $36.6 billion.
The net
international reserves is what is left after the
short-term liabilities of the BSP are taken out of the
GIR. |
