Dollar reserves down to $108.5 B in Nov

The country's dollar reserves fell for a second straight month in November as the national government paid some of its foreign debt obligations and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) utilized the greenback to shore up the peso's value.

- By KEISHA TA-ASAN

Based on preliminary data from the BSP, gross international reserves (GIR) stood at $108.5 billion as of end-November, down by 2.3 percent from $111.1 billion in end-October.

The GIR is the sum of all foreign exchange flowing into a country and serves as a buffer to ensure the government will not run out of foreign exchange that it can use in case of external shocks.

Year-on-year, the GIR, however, rose by 5.6 percent from $102.72 billion in November 2023.

"The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government's net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures," the BSP said.