The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) fell to $106.2 billion as of end-March 2025 from the end-February level of $107.4 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Tuesday.
The BSP’s reserve assets consist of foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position in the IMF and special drawing rights.
It said that despite the month-on-month decline, the latest GIR level still provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
The BSP said that GIR is adequate if it can finance at least three-months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
It also covers about 3.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity.
The level of GIR, as of a particular period, is considered adequate, if it provides at least 100 percent cover for the payment of the country’s foreign liabilities, public and private falling due within the immediate twelve-month period.
The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the drawdowns by the national government (NG) on its foreign currency deposits with the BSP to meet its external debt obligations and BSP’s net foreign exchange operations, the BSP said.
Net international reserves (NIR) also decreased by $1.2 billion to $106.2 billion as of end-March 2025 from the end-February 2025 level of $107.4 billion.
NIR refers to the difference between the BSP’s reserve assets (GIR) and reserve liabilities (short-term foreign debt and credit and loans from the IMF).
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said that for the coming months, the GIR could still be supported by the continued growth in the country’s structural inflows from OFW remittances, BPO revenues, exports and relatively fast recovery in foreign tourism revenues.
“The still relatively high GIR at $106.2 billion could still strengthen the country’s external position, which is a key pillar for the country’s continued favorable credit ratings for the second straight year, mostly at 1 to 3 notches above the minimum investment grade, a sign of resilience despite the COVID-19 pandemic that caused downgrades in other countries around the world,” Ricafort said.
