Dollar reserves rise to 13-month high

THE Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) soared to its highest level in over a year as the central bank's gold holdings reached a record high at the end of November.

- By Katherine K. Chan

The country's dollar reserves amounted to $111.077 billion as of November, up 0.75% from the $110.249 billion seen a month ago, preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

This was the highest GIR level in 13 months or since the $111.084 billion logged in October 2024.

Year on year, the dollar reserves climbed 2.39% from $108.488 billion.

GIR refers to the central bank's foreign assets held mostly as investments in foreign-issued securities, foreign exchange, and monetary gold, among others.

These are supplemented by claims to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the form of reserve position in the fund and special drawing rights (SDRs).

In a statement released late on Friday, the BSP said that the level of dollar reserves as of November is enough to cover about 3.8 times the country's short-term external debt based on residual maturity.

According to the central bank, a GIR level is deemed adequate if it can cover at least 100% of the country's payments of public and private foreign debt due within the immediate year.

The country's foreign reserves at end-November are also equivalent to 7.4 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, more than double the three-month standard.