MANILA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) climbed to 81.04 billion U.S. dollars as of January, the central bank said Tuesday.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Officer-in-Charge Nestor A. Espenilla said the January preliminary level was higher by 0.35 billion dollars than the December 2016 GIR.
He attributed the increase to inflows arising from net foreign currency deposits by the national government, revaluation adjustments on the BSP's gold holdings resulting from the increase in the gold price in the international market, and its income from investments abroad.
The GIR level as of January can cover 9.2 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, Espenilla said.
It is also equivalent to 5.8 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity, he added.
