PHL dollar reserves soar to record $56.849B in October

The country’s external liquidity position improved further in October, with the gross international reserves (GIR) surging to a new record of $56.849 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday. GIR — which indicates the country’s ability to engage in commercial transactions with the rest of the world such as payment for imports and settlement of foreign currency-denominated debts — is the total amount of foreign currency reserves and gold kept at and managed by the central bank. The country’s GIR last month was $13.676 billion higher than the $43.173 billion booked as of end-October last year, or $3.095 billion more than the $53.754 billion recorded in September, according to the BSP. The country’s GIR in October breached the $55-billion target set by monetary authorities. “The appreciable build-up in the reserves was due mainly to inflows from the foreign exchange operations and income from investments of BSP abroad, foreign currency deposits by the national government, proceeds from the new money component of the global bond exchange, and gains of the BSP’s gold holdings," BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. Tetangco said the country’s GIR as of end-October could be enough to cover 9.9 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. Back in 2000, the country’s GIR was only a little above the global norm, having equaled at that time to only 3.48 months worth of imports, according to the central bank. Tetangco originally expected the GIR to end the year between $49 billion to $49 billion but later recast it to $50 billion and still later to $55 billion. He refused to make any more GIR forecasts for the year as the export sector has begun to make noises about how their goods have become much less competitive in the global market due to foreign exchange rate issues. The peso’s year-to-date appreciation already averaged more than six percent, Tetangco said. -- JE/OMG, GMANews.TV