MANILA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) rose by 0.9 billion U.S. dollars to 108.05 billion U.S. dollars at the end of August, the Philippine central bank said.
The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 12.3 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement.
Moreover, the BSP said the GIR is about 7.8 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.4 times based on residual maturity.
The BSP said the GIR increase was due largely to the additional allocation of Special Drawing Rights to the Philippines, given the International Monetary Fund's efforts to increase global liquidity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Enditem
