Foreign reserves jump near record high in January – BSP

Gross international reserves (GIRs) rose to $112.5 billion in January 2026, an increase of about $1.681 billion from the end-2025 level, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

In a Friday evening advisory, the central bank said the country’s foreign reserves — composed of foreign-denominated securities, foreign exchange, and other reserve assets, including gold — rose by around 1.5 percent on a monthly basis, equivalent to about seven and a half months’ worth of imports.

“The latest GIR level provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It covers about 4.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity,” the BSP said.

GIRs serve as a buffer against external economic shocks, such as natural disasters and foreign exchange fluctuations, while also enabling a country to pay for its imports, service its foreign debt obligations, and stabilize its currency.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael Ricafort said the current reserve level reflects the second-highest monthly GIR total on record “and is also near the record high of US$112.707 billion posted in September 2024, or more than a year ago.”

Ricafort attributed the monthly increase in the GIR level “largely to the continued month-on-month increase in gold holdings by $2.1 billion, or up 1.2 percent, to a new record high of $20.7 billion,” noting that world gold prices gained 13.3 percent month-on-month, reaching a record high of $5,595.47 per ounce on 29 January 2026.

Ricafort also attributed the monthly uptick to the Philippines’ successful re-entry into the global bond market. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) previously reported that it had successfully priced its US dollar-denominated 5.5-year, 10-year, and 25-year SEC-registered Fixed Rate Global Bonds equivalent to $2.75 billion, its largest USD deal in over three years.

“With total bids/demand more than double at $5.95 billion, reflecting continued international investor/credit confidence in Philippine credit quality, the US dollar proceeds could also be fundamentally added, on a cash-flow basis, to the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) and balance of payments (BOP) as inflows,” noted Ricafort.

Meanwhile, the peso-dollar exchange rate has since stabilized, with the local currency regaining footing following the recent greenback appreciation in light of the USA’s takeover of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, combined with political instability in the Middle East.

At the time of press, the peso is trading at around P58.85, much stronger than the P59.46 record low close on 15 January. BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. signaled that the Philippine peso is unlikely to hit P60 soon, while the President said he does not want the peso to breach that level to avoid raising the real cost of the country’s external obligations.

Remolona earlier signaled that while the central bank had intervened in the foreign exchange market in recent weeks, it was in small amounts — day-to-day interventions meant to limit volatility. 

The BSP has maintained its data-dependent, “wait-and-see” approach when it comes to exchange rate fluctuations, stressing that central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market occurs only during periods of heightened volatility.