MANILA - The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level settled at $101.98 billion in June from $103.65 billion in May, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said based on preliminary data.

The BSP said the month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s payments of its foreign currency debt obligations and downward adjustment in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market.

"The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 8.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income," the BSP said.

It is also about 7.3 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.6 times based on residual maturity, the central bank added.

The country's GIR has been declining since peaking at $110.12 billion at the end of 2020.

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