By Katherine K. Chan, Reporter
The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) fell to its lowest level in over a 12 months as its foreign exchange holdings slumped at end-April, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
Preliminary central bank data showed that the country’s GIR level stood at $104.128 billion as of end-April, down 2.35% from the $106.636 billion a month ago.
This was the bottom GIR level in 15 months or for the reason that $103.271 billion logged in January 2025.
Yr on 12 months, the country’s dollar reserves slipped by 1.12% from $105.308 billion.
Still, the central bank noted that the end-April reserves are enough to cover about 3.8 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity.
It likewise translates to six.9 months’ value of imports of products and payments of services and first income, greater than double the three-month standard.
“The newest GIR level ensures availability of foreign exchange to fulfill balance of payments financing needs, resembling for payment of imports and debt service, in extreme conditions when there aren’t any export earnings or foreign loans,” the BSP said late on Thursday.
Dollar reserves are the central bank’s foreign assets held mostly as investments in foreign-issued securities, foreign exchange and monetary gold, amongst others.
These are supplemented by claims to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the shape of reserve position within the fund and special drawing rights (SDRs).
BSP data showed that the newest decline in foreign reserves got here because the country only held $464.9 billion in foreign exchange throughout the period, plunging by 73.38% from the $1.747 billion the prior month and by 30.85% from $672.3 million last 12 months.
Its gold holdings were also barely lower month on month as of end-April at $19.78 billion, down 1.97% from $20.177 billion at end-March. Nevertheless, it jumped by 48.29% from $13.338 billion a 12 months ago.
Meanwhile, its foreign investments dropped by 1.11% to $79.198 billion from $80.088 billion the previous month and by 8.63% from $86.674 billion a 12 months earlier.
Nevertheless, its reserve position within the IMF climbed by 1.3% month on month to $723.6 million as of end-April from $714.3 million previously but dipped 2.43% from $741.6 million in the identical period in 2025.
The country’s SDRs — or the quantity the Philippines can tap from the IMF’s reserve currency basket — also reached $3.961 billion, 1.29% higher than the $3.912 billion as of end-March and up 2.05% from $3.882 billion last 12 months.
For 2026, the BSP sees the country’s foreign reserves ending at $111 billion.