Daily Tribune
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has green-lit foreign loans proposed for the third quarter of the year. Among these loans are those that will fund maritime safety projects amounting to $448.41 million, agrarian reform projects worth $87.56 million, and climate resilience projects worth $778.59 million.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BSP
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday refuted former president Rodrigo Duterte's statements that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. stole and sold the country's gold reserves, leading to the peso depreciation.
Duterte delivered his statements against Marcos last Saturday during the Cebu People's Indignation Rally in Mandaue City.
"The country’s gross international reserves, including gold, are held and managed solely by the BSP in order to maintain the international stability and convertibility of the Philippine peso and meet any foreseeable net demands on the Bangko Sentral for foreign currencies," the BSP said in a statement.
The BSP stressed trading of gold reserves is a common activity for all central banks worldwide to hedge against lower market prices of a country's other assets.
The Central Bank said gold reserves expand or contract depending on global market trends for this asset.
The BSP added its gold reserves may be limited due to storage costs.
"Gold prices tend to move in the opposite direction of other assets. However, gold prices can be volatile, and gold earns little interest and has storage costs, so central banks don’t want to hold too much," BSP said.
