(Sa pagtatapos ng 2023) FOREIGN RESERVES NG PH PUMALO SA $102.5-B

TINAPOS ng Pilipinas ang 2023 na may mahigit isandaang bilyong dolyar na halaga ng foreign currency reserves.

Sapat ito para ma-cover ang mahigit kalahating taong imports at foreign obligations ng bansa.

Sa preliminary data mula sa Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ay lumitaw na ang gross international reserves (GIR) ng bansa hanggang noong katapusan ng December 2023 ay nasa  $102.5 billion, bahagyang bumaba mula sa November 2023 level na $102.7 billion.

Ang reserve assets ng BSP ay kinabibilangan ng foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position sa International Monetary Fund (IMF), at special drawing rights.

“The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly by the national government’s payments of its foreign currency debt obligations,” pahayag ng BSP.

Sinabi rin ni Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael Ricafort na ang month-on-month decline sa GIR level hanggang noong katapusan ng 2023 ay dahil sa pagbabayad ng foreign debt/obligations ng national government dahil pumatak ito sa pagtatapos ng  accounting year.

“For the coming months, the country’s GIR could still be supported by the continued growth in the country’s structural inflows from OFW remittances, BPO revenues, exports (though offset by imports), relatively fast recovery in foreign tourism revenues, as well as continued foreign investment/FDI inflows,” ani Ricafort.

Ang end-December GIR level, bagama’t bahagyang bumaba mula sa naunang buwan, ay nananatiling “more than adequate external liquidity buffer” na katumbas ng 7.7 buwang halaga ng imports of goods at  payments of services and primary income.