Dollar reserves hit $84B in April
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 07 May 2019 16:31:05 +0000
THE country’s dollar reserves rose to a 30-month high of $83.955 billion in April on the back of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) foreign exchange operations and investment income plus foreign currency deposits by the government.
The figure — the largest since October 2016’s $85.105 billion — was also 0.40 percent and 5.4 percent higher, respectively, from March and a year ago, preliminary data released on Tuesday showed.
The month-on-month increase was due “mainly to inflows arising from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations, national government’s net foreign currency deposits and BSP’s income from its investments abroad,” the central bank said in a statement.
These were partially tempered by national government payments for foreign exchange obligations as well as revaluation losses from the BSP’s gold holdings as global prices of the metal fell.
Bank of the Philippine Islands Vice President and lead economist Emilio Neri Jr. said the increase in GIR was a “welcome development.”
“Further replenishing our GIR has become more compelling, however, as the economy’s imports have grown exponentially over the last three years,” he added.
The latest reserve level was enough to cover 7.4 months worth of imports, the same buffer posted in March and a year ago. It was also equivalent to five times the country’s short-term external obligations due within one year and 3.5 times based on residual maturity.
Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to $83.94 billion compared to $83.60 billion a month earlier.
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