THE country's gross international reserves (GIR) slipped in April as the government paid off some of its debt and used foreign currencies for some spending items, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Wednesday.

GIR settled at $103.4 billion as of end-April, down from $104.1 billion a month earlier, but was said to be still more than adequate to pay for the country's imports and short-term debt.

The decline "reflected mainly the national government's net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures," the central bank said in a statement.

The latest GIR level was said to be "equivalent to 7.7 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income ... [and] 5.9 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.6 times based on residual maturity."

GIR levels are considered adequate "if it can finance at least three months' worth of the country's imports of goods and payments of services and primary income," the BSP explained.

It is also sufficient if the level can cover 100 percent of payments for private and public foreign liabilities that will fall due in the next 12 months.

Net international reserves — the difference between GIR and reserve liabilities — fell by $600 million to $103.4 billion as of end-April from $104.0 billion, the BSP also reported.

GIR consists of the BSP's foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position in the International Monetary Fund, and special drawing rights.

Sought for comment, ING Manila Bank senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa agreed that the foreign reserves remained ample despite concerns over the peso's weakness.

"[March's] slight dip can be traced to national government settling obligations as well as to lower international price for gold," he added.

The Bangko Sentral, meanwhile, "will continue to enjoy the substantial buffer provided by GIR during further potential episodes of dollar liquidity tightness."

Security Bank Corp. chief economist Robert Dan Roces also said that the latest GIR figure "suggests that the Philippines maintains a strong position to manage potential external shocks, especially in FX (foreign exchange), which has been volatile as of late."

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