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By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter
THE country’s foreign exchange reserves in the
first half of the year rose near the high-end of the Bangko Sentral
ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) target, driven by the proceeds from the sale
of government’s power plants and the central bank’s investment
income abroad.
In a statement, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr.
said the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) rose to
$36.7 billion, up by $500 million from the previous month’s $36.2
billion. The BSP expects the country’s GIR to reach between $36.5
billion and $37 billion this year from $33.751 billion last year.
Tetangco said the increase in reserves was due
to the deposit by state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities
Management Corp. (Psalm) of the proceeds from the privatization
National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) assets.
BSP data showed total Psalm proceeds reached
$230 million in June, lower than the previous month’s $262
million.
The central bank’s investment income reached
$51 million.
These inflows were partly offset, however, by
payments of maturing foreign currency-denominated obligations of the
national government at $163 million and the BSP at $23 million. Also
trimming the country’s GIR was $258-million worth of prepayments
of Napocor’s various foreign loans.
Total foreign investments, however, increased to
$32.191 billion in June from $31.884 billion in May.
Tetangco said the current GIR level can cover
six months of imports of goods and payments of services and income.
It was also equivalent to 5.1 times the country’s short-term
external debt based on original maturity and 2.9 times based on
residual maturity.
Excluding short-term liabilities, the
country’s net international reserves at end-June remained steady
at $36.2 billion.
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