Philippines' gross int'l reserves keeps upward trend in October

The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level rose to 107.95 billion U.S dollars at the end of October from 106.6 billion U.S. dollars a month earlier, the Philippine central bank said on Friday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 10.8 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

The BSP said the GIR level is also about 7.8 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.4 times based on residual maturity.

The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government's net foreign currency deposits with the BSP and upward adjustment in the value of the BSP's gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, the BSP added.