MANILA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine gross international reserves (GIR) climbed to 85.9 billion U.S. dollars in September, the local central bank said Friday.
Based on the preliminary data, the September GIR level was 0.11 billion U.S. dollars higher than the August GIR of 85.79 billion U.S. dollars, said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Officer-inCharge Nestor Espenilla Jr. said.
The higher GIR was mainly due to the national government's net foreign currency deposits, the BSP's foreign exchange operations and its income from the investments abroad, along with revaluation adjustments on its gold holdings resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market, he said.
The September GIR level can cover 10 months's worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income.
It is also equivalent to 6 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.3 times based on residual maturity.
The net international reserves, which refer to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities, also rose to 85.89 billion U.S. dollars in September, 0.11 billion U.S. dollars higher than the August level of 85.78 billion U.S. dollars.
