The Philippines’ dollar reserves reached a record high in July this year after the government deposited proceeds of its second global bond sale, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
Gross international reserves (GIR) reached $39.49 billion, 8.36 percent higher than $36.9 billion during the same month last year and 1.26 percent stronger than June’s $39.49 billion, the BSP said in a statement.
At this level, the country’s dollar reserves are enough to cover 6.9 months of imported goods and payments of services and income.
"It was also equivalent to 6.3 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.2 times based on residual maturity," the statement read.
Short-term debt based on residual maturity is the outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.
Increase in GIR came from the national government’s deposit of proceeds from its second global bond issue for the year.
“Valuation gains in BSP's gold holdings arising from the higher price of gold in the international market in July 2009, foreign currency deposits by the authorized agent banks, as well as income from the BSP's investments abroad" also supported the increase of Philippine dollar reserves, the BSP said.
These receipts were partly offset by outflows arising from the repayment of maturing foreign obligations of the government and the central bank, BSP deputy governor Nestor A. Espenilla said.
Including revaluation of reserve assets and reserve-related liabilities, net international reserves – or the difference between the GIR and short-term liabilities – inched up by 1.79 percent month-on-month to $39.16 billion from $38.47 billion.
Last month, the Philippines sold dollar-denominated bonds to foreign investors for the second time this year to fund its ballooning budget deficit.
The government sold $750 million worth of 6.5 percent dollar-denominated securities after selling $1.5 billion global bonds in January. - GMANews.TV
