MANILA - The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) settled at $99.3 billion as of the end of February, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed.

February's total is slightly lower than January's $100.7 billion, the central bank said in a statement.

The latest GIR level represents more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months' worth of import of goods and payments of services and primary income, the BSP said.

It is also about 6.1 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity, it added.

"The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s (NG) net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, and downward adjustments in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market," the BSP said.

A hefty reserves level enables the country to respond timely to external shocks.

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