PH dollar reserves up to $106.6B in July — BSP

Philippine dollar reserves continued to grow in July due to the higher valuation of the central bank’s gold holdings amid the upward movement of international prices, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported Wednesday.

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) — a measure of the ability to settle import payments and service foreign debt — climbed to $105.647 billion in July, up from $105.188 billion in June, and $99.951 billion the same month last year.

This is equivalent to an external liquidity buffer of 7.8 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is about 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity, and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.

“The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the upward valuation adjustments in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, net income from the BSP’s investments abroad, and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits with the BSP,” it said in an accompanied statement.

Net international reserves — the difference between the central bank’s reserve assets and reserve liabilities — increased by $0.46 billion to $105.62 billion.

Data available from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the government’s debt stood at a record P15.347 trillion as of end-May, up 2.2% or P330.39 billion from end-April’s P15.017 trillion.

The country is set to spend P876.7 billion for debt payments in 2025, accounting for 13.8% of the P6.352-trillion budget the government has allocated for the coming year.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto earlier on Wednesday said the country’s sovereign debt could balloon to as much as P20 trillion by the end of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s term, but this would be outpaced by economic growth. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News