MANILA — The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level settled at $101.3 billion as of the end of May, slightly lower than the $101.8 billion in April, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

In a statement, the central bank said the latest GIR level is more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.6 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

It is also about 5.9 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity, it added.

The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the national government’s (NG) net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, and downward adjustments in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market," said the BSP.

Similarly, the net international reserves, which refers to the difference between the BSP's reserve assets and reserve liabilities, declined to $101.3 billion as of the end of May from $101.7 billion the previous month, according to BSP data.

Economic managers boast of the country's strong macroeconomic fundamentals, which include hefty reserves.

• Philippines' gross int'l reserves level at $96 billion as of end December: BSP
• PH gross reserves hit $100.2 billion in March
• Philippines' gross int'l reserves level slightly lower at $99.3-B in February

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