THE country’s gross international reserves (GIR) grew from $500 million to $36.7 billion.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Amando Tetanco Jr. said GIR grew on the heels of deposits by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., or PSALM. The money came from the asset sale of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Income from the BSP’s overseas investments, credits from foreign financial counterparts, as well as revaluation gains helped boost the reserves, Tetangco said.

These gains were from adjustments in the value of the US dollar holdings of the Bangko Sentral.

These upward adjustments compensated for foreign-exchange outflows, mainly from payments of maturing foreign currency-denominated obligations of the national government and the BSP, as well as prepayments of Napocor’s various foreign loans, Tetangco added.

“The current GIR level can cover six months of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It is also equivalent to 5.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 2.9 times based on residual maturity,” Tetangco said in a statement.

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, Tetangco added.

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Security Bank upgrades Treasury software

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Foreign reserves grow to $36.7B

THE country’s gross international reserves (GIR) grew from $500 million to $36.7 billion.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Amando Tetanco Jr. said GIR grew on the heels of deposits by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., or PSALM. The money came from the asset sale of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Yield for 91-day T-bills advances to 5.699%

THE government sold its 91-day Treasury bills on Monday, after withdrawing the benchmark bills for nearly six months so as to reign in interest rates.

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THE Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) has signed a remittance agreement with Hana Bank of South Korea to expand its remittance business, Metrobank said in a statement Monday.