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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider BSP foreign deposits up 78%

BSP foreign deposits up 78%

Published Nov 29, 2023 09:48 am

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has $5.29 billion worth of total currency and deposits overseas as of end-September, up by 77.7 percent compared to same time last year of $2.98 billion, based on current data.

These foreign currency and deposits are part of the Philippines’ $101 billion official reserves or buffer stock in US dollars.

Compared to end-August this year, the total currency and deposits dropped by 32.6 percent from $7.85 billion.

However, currency and deposits to other national banks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) declined by 85.25 percent to $175.75 million as of end-September against $1.19 billion same period in 2022. Compared to end-August 2023, it was down by 87 percent from $1.35 billion.

Currency and deposits in other foreign banks, meanwhile, registered a significant increase of 186.7 percent to $5.12 billion versus $1.78 billion same time last year. These are banks identified by the BSP as “banks headquartered outside” of the Philippines.

BSP officials declined to comment or explain the currency and deposits under the country’s official reserve assets or currency dealings due to its confidential nature.

The latest gross international reserves (GIR) stood at $101.035 billion as of end-October, up by 2.97 percent from end-September’s $98.116 billion.

The data on total currency and deposits, while part of GIR, is not disclosed along with the GIR when the reserves data is released.

The central bank reports two GIR numbers in a single month, a preliminary and the final data which is reported along with the balance of payments.

The latest GIR level is “more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent” which can account for 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, said the BSP.

It is also about 5.8 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.7 times based on residual maturity.

The BSP’s reserve assets are composed of gold, foreign investments, foreign exchange, reserve position in the IMF, and special drawing rights or SDRs in the IMF.

As of end-October, the BSP’s gold reserves amounted to $10.570 billion, up from $9.789 billion in the previous month. The current gold stock is also higher from the same period last year of $8.271 billion.

BSP’s foreign investments mainly in securities and bonds totaled $84.788 billion during the period, up from end-September’s $82.988 billion and from same period in 2022 of $79.963 billion.

The amount of foreign exchange held by BSP as recorded in the GIR, meanwhile, amounted to $1.228 billion as of end-October, up from $834 million in the previous month but lower than same period last year of $1.433 billion.

The BSP’s reserve position in the IMF totaled $777 million from $778 million previously and $739 million in 2022. SDR holdings remain at $3.725 billion for both October and September this year.

For this year, the BSP expects GIR will end at a conservative number of $99.5 billion but will improve in 2024 to $102 billion.

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