Forex reserves hit $79.8 B in Dec

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s gross international reserves went up in December on earnings from the central bank’s foreign exchange operations and investments abroad.

In a report, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the country’s GIR amounted to $79.806 billion in December, up from the revised $78.679 billion in November. This is within the central bank’s assumption of $79 billion to 80 billion by end 2014.

“The increase in reserves was due mainly to the BSP’s foreign exchange operations, revaluation adjustments on its gold holdings, income from its investments abroad as well as the national government’s net foreign currency deposits,” the BSP said.

“These were partially offset by payments made by the government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations,” the central bank said.

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

The December figure is enough to cover 10.2 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income.

At the same time, it is also equivalent to 8.4 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 climbed to $79.8 billion in December from $78.7 billion in November.

In 2013, foreign exchange reserves summed up to $83.187 billion, slightly below the $83.572 billion in 2012.