Forex reserves fall to two-year low in October

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) fell to its lowest level in October due to revaluation adjustments on the local central bank's gold holdings.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippine central bank or BSP) today showed that the October GIR level slid to $79.29 billion in October from the $79.55 billion recorded in September. This is the lowest level recorded since June 2012 when the country's foreign exchange reserves hit $76.13 billion.

"The decrease in reserves was due mainly to revaluation adjustments in the BSP's gold holdings and payments for maturing foreign exchange obligations of the national government," the BSP said in a statement.

The local central bank said these outflows were partially offset by net foreign currency deposits done by the National Treasury, earnings from the central bank's investments abroad, revaluation adjustments on the BSP's foreign currency-denominated reserves.

Despite the decline in the October figure, the BSP said the GIR level remains ample as it can cover 10.8 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income.

It is also equivalent to 8.2 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 6 times based on residual maturity.