Preliminary data shows gross international reserves (GIR) rose to $85.02 billion as of end-May from $83.88 billion as of end-April.

This was announced by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno Friday.

At this level, GIR serves as an ample external liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

It is also equivalent to 5.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.6 times based on residual maturity.

The month-on-month increase in the GIR level was due mainly to inflows arising from the National Government’s net foreign currency deposits, BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and revaluation gains from the BSP’s gold holdings, resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market.

However, the increase in reserves was tempered partially by payments made by the national government for servicing its foreign exchange obligations.

Net international reserves (NIR), which refers to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased by $1.14 billion to $85 billion as of end-May from the end-April level of $83.86 billion. DMS