Sept forex reserves dropped to $95B

The Philippines gross international reserves (GIR) decreased for the seventh month in a row in September, with $2.4 billion flowing out and $95 billion remaining at the end of the month from $97.4 billion at the end of August.

This happened as the Philippine peso fell to new all-time weakest positions against the US dollar 11 times during the month, twice during four consecutive trading days.

In September, the local currency lost 2.57 to the greenback, starting the month at 56.42:$1 and ending at 58.99:$1.

Even then, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that preliminary data for September showed that the latest GIR level continued to represent a more than adequate external liquidity buffer.

The BSPs reserve assetsconsisting of foreign investments, gold, foreign currencies, reserve position in the International Monetary Fund, and special drawing rightsare considered adequate if they can finance at least three-months worth of the countrys imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.