PH dollar reserves recover to $106B

Higher gold prices globally, coupled with the central bank’s investment income, helped the Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR)—its stock of United States (US) dollars and other foreign currencies—recover last month from its modest decline in July.

- DERCO ROSAL

Preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that the country’s GIR expanded to $105.9 billion at end-August, recovering from $105.4 billion in July. This improvement was driven by “higher global gold prices and income from BSP’s investments.”

GIR includes the BSP’s reserve assets, such as foreign investments, gold, foreign currency, its reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and special drawing rights (SDR).