Philippines' gross int'l reserves rise to 96 bln USD in December

The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level has risen to 96 billion U.S. dollars as of December from 95.1 billion dollars in November, according to the preliminary data of the Philippine central bank released on Monday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

The BSP added the December GIR level is about 5.9 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.9 times based on residual maturity.

It added the month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected the BSP's net foreign exchange operations, the upward valuation adjustments of the value of central banks' gold holdings due to the rise of gold price in the international market, and net income from the BSP's investments abroad.