MANILA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level settled at 104.82 billion U.S. dollars as of end of March, compared to 105.16 billion U.S. dollars a month earlier, according to data from the Philippine central bank.

"The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer, which can help cushion the domestic economy against external shocks," the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement on Friday.

The BSP said the buffer is equivalent to 12 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

Moreover, the BSP said the buffer is also about 7.5 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.3 times based on residual maturity.

"The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected outflows mainly from the net withdrawal in the national government's foreign currency deposits with the BSP, which were largely used for debt servicing, and a downward adjustment in the value of BSP's gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market," the BSP said. Enditem

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