FX reserves hit $36.7B in April

By Ruben Hortelano

05/08/2008

The gross international reserves (GIR) rose by another $100 million to $36.7 billion last April, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data released yesterday showed.

The government expects the GIR to hit $37 billion by the end of the year,

Deputy BSP Gov. Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the increase was brought about by 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.

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