MANILA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) rose by 0.43 billion U.S. dollars to 85.61 billion U.S. dollars as of end-August 2019 from 85.18 billion U.S. dollars as of end-July 2019, the country's central bank Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Friday.
"The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflects the national government's net foreign currency deposits and BSP's income from its investments abroad," Diokno said, citing preliminary data.
However, he said the increase in reserves "was partially tempered by payments made by the national government for servicing its foreign exchange obligations."
The end-August 2019 level of GIR serves as an ample external liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 7.5 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
It is also equivalent to 5.2 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity, he said.
Diokno added that the country's net international reserves (NIR), which refers to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities, likewise increased by 0.43 billion U.S. dollars to 85.6 billion U.S. dollars as of end-August 2019 from the end-July 2019 level of 85.17 billion U.S. dollars.
