The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) posted a slight increase in May 2025, reaching $105.5 billion from $105.3 billion in April, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.
It said the latest GIR level provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
“Moreover, it covers about 3.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity,” the BSP said.
The BSP said the month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the upward valuation adjustments in the BSP’s 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.
The net international reserves (NIR) also increased from $105.26 billion in April to $105.34 billion in May 2025.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the net increase in the GIR could also be partly attributed to the proceeds of the national government’s $3.29-billion global/ROP bond issuance reflected in February 2025 and the $2.5 billion global/ROP bond issuance reflected in September 2024.
“The GIR equivalent to 7.3 months worth of imports recently is among the lowest in more than two years or since 2022 and down from an immediate high of 8.1 months in September 2024; but nevertheless still more than twice the international standard of 3 to 4 months and sustained well above the $100 billion mark, thereby could strengthen the country’s external position that is positive for sustaining the country’s favorable credit ratings of 1-3 notches above investment grade ,” Ricafort said.
“More importantly, relatively higher GIR to provide greater cushion/buffer/support/ for the peso exchange rate vs. the U.S. dollar, as fundamentally supported by the continued growth in the country’s structural U.S. dollar inflows especially from OFW remittances, BPO revenues, tourism receipts, foreign investments, among others,” he said.
