GIR declines to 2-yr low

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s gross international reserves fell to a fresh two-year low in November as the government made payments for maturing foreign exchange loans and revaluation adjustments on the central bank’s gold holdings.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data showed the country’s forex reserves amounted to $78.984 billion in November, down from the revised $79.409 billion in October. The latest figure was the lowest level since it touched $76.130 billion in October 2012.

“The decrease in reserves was due mainly to the net foreign exchange operations of the BSP, payments for maturing foreign exchange obligations of the national government, and revaluation adjustments in the BSP’s gold holdings and foreign currency-denominated reserves,” the central bank said.

These outflows were somewhat tempered by the net foreign currency deposits made by the Treasurer of the Philippines, and the income generated from the BSP’s investments abroad.

The GIR indicates the country’s ability to pay for imports of goods and services and to service foreign debt.

Despite the decrease in the GIR in November, the figure is still enough to cover 10.7 months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and payments of services and income.

At the same time, it is equivalent to 8.3 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and six times based on residual maturity.

Meanwhile, net international reserves or GIR less the short-term debts slid to $79 billion in November from $79.4 billion in October.

Last year, the country’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to $83.187 billion, lower than the $83.831 billion recorded in end-2012.