GIR rose to $85.9B end-August — BSPThe country’s gross international reserves (GIR) increased to a preliminary record high of $85.90 billion as of the end of August, up by $390 million from the previous month’s $85.51 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported. Photo courtesy of Yahoo (mb.com.ph)“(The GIR) level was higher (due) mainly to the national government’s (NG) net foreign currency deposits and the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad,” said the BSP. The current GIR level is sufficient enough for 10.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. The BSP releases preliminary GIR data first before announcing final numbers every 19th of the month. “Specifically, we have room to allow the exchange rates to absorb some of these near-term shocks or provide foreign exchange liquidity under our flexible exchange rate policy,” Tetangco said.

Source: Manila Bulletin September 07, 2016 10:18 UTC