INFLOW from foreign transactions expanded the gross international reserves (GIR) to a record high in September, boosted by the national government’s net foreign currency deposits and the central bank’s foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad. Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday showed the gross GIR reached a record $85.9 billion in September, compared with $85.79 billion in August. The GIR is the sum of a country’s foreign transactions, composed of the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund, foreign exchange holdings, gold reserves, and special drawing rights (SDRs) and foreign investments. Net international reserves—which refer to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short term liabilities—increased at $85.89 billion from $85.78 billion. But because they are around to sell dollars to smoothen the fluctuations, then that will cushion the impact of the net foreign selling.

Source: Manila Times October 07, 2016 16:30 UTC