PH gross reserves drop in May

THE country’s gross international reserves (GIR) dropped to a 16-month low in May, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said over the weekend. Data showed the reserves plunged to $103.97 billion from $104.33 billion in April, due to the national government’s use of foreign currency deposits to pay external debt, the central bank explained. Other factors were the “downward valuation adjustments in the BSP’s gold holdings due to decline in global gold prices and BSP’