LOWER gold prices in the international market as well as the government’s debt payments pulled down gross international reserves to below $100 billion in February, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas .
“The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s [NG] net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, and downward adjustments in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market,” BSP explained.
Further, BSP said the GIR in February is 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity.