Official International Reserve Assets of the Philippines Increases
to US$49.04 billion in July 2010

(Posted 28 September 2010)

Based on the latest money and banking statistics released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s official reserve assets as of end-July 2010 stood at approximately US$49.04 billion, posting a 22.09 percent increase from its end-July 2009 level of US$40.17 billion. Of this official reserve assets, 82.9 percent are foreign currency reserves valued at US$40.64 billion, 13.6 percent are gold valued at US$6.68 billion, special drawing rights (SDRs) with 2.3 percent share valued at US$1.10 billion, and 1.3 percent are composed of other official reserve assets and IMF reserve position with a combined value of US$618.03 million. Meanwhile, other foreign currency assets, not included in the official reserve assets, reached US$323.35 million.

Official Reserves Assets of the Philippines
as of July 31, 2010

Net outflows on foreign currency loans, securities and deposits as of end-July 2010 registered US$7.70 billion, 8.4 percent higher than the same period last year, which posted US$7.11 billion. On the other hand, long positions in forwards and futures in foreign currencies vis-à-vis domestic currencies were estimated at US$16.86 billion, posting a 240.1 percent increase from US$4.96 billion as of the same period during the previous year.

The complete template of data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity includes statistics on: (1) official reserve assets and other foreign currency assets (in approximate market value); (2) predetermined short-term net drains on foreign currency assets (in nominal value); (3) contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency assets (in nominal value); and (4) memo items.

Generation of monetary and banking statistics is one of the designated statistical activities of the BSP under Executive Order No. 352, Designation of Statistical Activities That Will Generate Critical Data for Decision-Making of the Government and the Private Sector, issued on July 1, 1996. Per EO 352, data on money and banking should be made available 30 to 45 days after the reference month. The BSP released the data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity on September 7, 2010 as scheduled in its 2010 Advance Release Calendar (ARC) and EO 352.

For further inquiries on money and banking statistics, please contact Dir. Rosabel Guerrero of the Department of Economic Statistics of the BSP, at telephone numbered 523-4275, fax numbered 523-5851 and email address rguerrero@bsp.gov.ph/ bspmail@bsp.gov.ph.

Link to data source:
http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/spei_new/tab16.htm
http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/sdds/res_jul2009.htm
http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/sdds/res_jul2010.htm

what-iS-TAT? *

Foreign currency reserves, gold, special drawing rights (SDRs), foreign investments as well as the Reserve Position in the Fund (RPF) are main components of the Gross International Reserves (GIR). The GIR constitutes the foreign assets valued mark-to-market, which are readily available to and controlled by the BSP for direct financing of payments imbalances and for managing the magnitude of such imbalances. The BSP estimates the level of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) remittances, which props up the country’s foreign currency reserves.

Preliminary estimates of BSP reveal that from January to July 2010 OFW remittances reached a total of US$10.68 billion, posting a 7.07 percent increase compared with January-July 2009 level valued at US$9.97 billion. Remittances from land-based OFWs during the period amounted to 80.03 percent share to the total while remittances from sea-based OFWs comprise 19.97 percent share.

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* what-iS-TAT? box contains snippets of official concepts and definitions, related surveys, censuses and administrative-based record systems, standards and classification systems, statistical laws and other legal provisions, NSCB Board Resolutions, and other related information on statistics.

Links to the information on what-iS-TAT?:

BSP: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/
GIR: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/spei/glossary.pdf
January-July 2010 OFW remittances: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/keystat/ofw.htm