By Katherine K. Chan, A reporter
The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) fell to its lowest level in a year as its foreign exchange rate weakened at the end of April, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
Preliminary data from the central bank showed that the country’s GIR stood at $104.128 billion as of the end of April, down 2.35% from $106.636 billion the previous month.
This was the lowest level of GIR in 15 months or since $ 103.271 billion entered in January 2025.
Year-on-year, the country’s dollar reserves decreased by 1.12% from $105.308 billion.
Nevertheless, the central bank noted that reserves at the end of April were sufficient to cover about 3.8 times the country’s short-term external debt based on remaining maturities.
It also translates to 6.9 months of imports and expenditures and payments for services and basic income, more than double the three-month rate.
“The latest GIR rate ensures the availability of foreign currency to meet balance of payments needs, such as the payment of purchases and debt service, in difficult situations where there is no export earnings or foreign loans,” the BSP said late Thursday.
Dollar reserves are foreign assets of the central bank that are mainly held as investments in foreign-issued securities, foreign trade and currency gold, among others.
This is supplemented by International Monetary Fund (IMF) claims in the form of fund reserves and special drawing rights (SDRs).
BSP data showed that the latest decline in foreign reserves came as the country held only $464.9 billion during the period, down 73.38% from $1.747 billion the previous month and 30.85% from $672.3 million last year.
Its gold holdings were also slightly lower for the month since the end of April at $19.78 billion, down 1.97% from $20.177 billion at the end of March. However, it jumped 48.29% from $13.338 billion last year.
Meanwhile, its foreign investment decreased by 1.11% to $79.198 billion from $80.088 billion last month and by 8.63% from $86.674 billion a year ago.
However, its final position at the IMF increased by 1.3% month-on-month to $723.6 million as of the end of April from $714.3 million previously but decreased by 2.43% from $741.6 million in the same period in 2025.
The country’s SDRs – or the amount the Philippines can receive from the IMF’s reserve currency basket – also reached $3.961 billion, up 1.29% from the $3.912 billion as of the end of March and up 2.05% from $3.882 billion last year.
By 2026, the BSP sees the country’s foreign reserves ending at $111 billion.
