PH int’l reserves contract to $99.72B in January
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) declined by 7.4 per cent in January, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
By the end of January, the country’s GIR is recorded at US$99.72 billion—a 7.4 per cent drop from January 2022’s US$107.69 billion.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort explained that this decline may have been caused by the weak performance of the local currency.
This could be turned around by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances and revenues from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
Higher exports and foreign tourism revenues are also expected to help buoy the country’s GIR.
Other factors include foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, hot money inflows, proceeds from the proposed U.S. dollar-bond issuances, and foreign borrowings by the national government in the first semester of 2023.
