MANILA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level rose by 1.54 billion U.S. dollars to 100.49 billion U.S. dollars as of September 2020 from August 2020 level of 98.95 billion U.S. dollars, the Philippine central bank said on Thursday.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected inflows mainly from its foreign exchange operations and the national government's foreign currency deposits with the BSP.
The BSP said the end-September 2020 GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer, which can cushion the domestic economy against external shocks.
"This buffer is equivalent to 10 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. Moreover, it is also about 9.2 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.4 times based on residual maturity," the statement said. Enditem
