Gross international reserves climbed to $83.97 billion as of end-June from $82.93 billion in May, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said Thursday.
Tetangco said the increase was led by revaluation adjustments on Bangko Sentral’s gold holdings as the price of gold increased in the international market.
Another factor was the net foreign currency deposits by the national government, which was partially offset by payments made by the government formaturing foreign exchange obligations.
Tetangco said that at almost $84 billion, the GIR could cover 10.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It was also equivalent to 5.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.3 times based on residual maturity.