Philippine forex reserves at end-March lowest in 3 months

MANILA – Gross international reserves (GIR) dropped to $80.38 billion in March, the lowest since end-December, based on data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The BSP said the decline was mainly due to government payments for maturing foreign debt as well as revaluation adjustments on central bank gold holdings and foreign currency-denominated reserves.

GIR reflects a country’s ability to pay for its imports and debt.

Forex reserves in March can cover 10.5 months’ worth of imports, and is equivalent to 3.9 times short-term foreign debt, residual maturity basis. In February, the country’s GIR was $80.84 billion.

Philippines was Asia's second-fastest growing economy in 2014 after China, having gathered momentum in the final quarter.

Government's 7 percent to 8 percent expansion goal would keep the economy as one of Asia's fastest-growing, in contrast to neighbors recently easing policy to spur growth. -- With Reuters

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

End-Nov forex reserves lowest since June 2012

MANILA – Gross international reserves (GIR) fell to $78.984 billion in November, the lowest since June 2012 when reserves were at $76.130 billion, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

November’s GIR, which indicates the country’s ability to pay for imports of goods and services and to service foreign debt, was also down from the revised $79.409 billion recorded in October.

“The decrease in reserves was due mainly to the net foreign exchange operations of the BSP, payments for maturing foreign exchange obligations of the national government, and revaluation adjustments in the BSP’s gold holdings and foreign currency-denominated reserves,” the central bank said.

The BSP expects end-2014 foreign reserves to reach $85.3 billion, revised from an earlier forecast of $88 billion. Foreign reserves at end-2013 stood at $83.2 billion.

The central bank expects cash remittances from Filipinos overseas to rise 5 percent this year after a 6.4 percent growth in 2013 when they hit a record $22.97 billion.

Data released on Nov. 27 showed the Philippine economy slowed to its weakest pace in more than five years in the third quarter, hurt by a decline in public spending and farm output and signaling a longer-than-expected pause in the central bank's tightening cycle. -- With Reuters

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com