Philippines' gross int'l reserves level settles at 98.7 bln USD in end-September

MANILA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level settled at 98.7 billion U.S. dollars as of end-September from 99.6 billion dollars in August, according to the Philippine central bank data released Friday night.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

The BSP added that the September GIR level is about 5.7 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.6 times based on residual maturity.

"The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government's payments of its foreign currency debt obligations and the downward adjustments in the value of the BSP's gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market," the BSP said.