On Thursday, April 30, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that the country, as of March 2020, has reached the highest foreign currency reserves—amounting to USD$88.995 billion, an increase from February which recorded USD$88.187.
BSP’s Department of Economic Statistics (DES), in a statement said the final end of March GIR will be published as soon as the data becomes available. GIR is in reference to all foreign assets that are available and controlled by the central bank to finance payment imbalances or manage the magnitude of such imbalances. BSP’s GIR target this year is USD$86 billion.
“In terms of the final data on GIR, the highest level recorded was as of end-February at USD$88.2 billion,” it said.
As per the BSP, the latest foreign reserves level of the country is sufficient enough to cover 7.9 months worth for the imports of goods and services and payments of primary income—higher than the international standard of three months’ worth of cover.
The increase in GIR level signified the gains from the central bank’s foreign exchange operations and income from investments overseas along with the national government’s foreign currency deposits with the central bank. These significant inflows however are partly countered by the national government payments of its foreign currency-denominated loans.
Also for March 2020, the country’s net international reserves (NIR), which is the difference between the GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to USD$88.99 billion from February’s USD$88.18 billion.
