The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) rose to $104.8 billion at the end of August 2026, strengthening the country’s financial buffer even as its balance of payments (BOP) remained in deficit, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported.
The reserve level increased from $103.3 billion at the end of July, driven mainly by upward valuation adjustments in the BSP’s gold holdings as international gold prices rose. Higher net income from the central bank’s overseas investments also contributed to the increase.
At its latest level, the GIR is sufficient to cover about 6.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments for services and primary income.
The reserves are also equivalent to approximately 3.3 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity, giving the economy a substantial cushion against external shocks and foreign-exchange pressures.
Despite the stronger reserve position, the country posted a BOP deficit of $596 million in August. The BOP measures the Philippines’ economic transactions with the rest of the world.
The August shortfall widened the cumulative BOP deficit to $5.9 billion in the first eight months of 2026, exceeding the $5.4-billion deficit recorded during the same period last year.
The year-to-date deficit largely reflected the country’s continued trade-in-goods shortfall and net outflows from foreign portfolio investments.
These pressures were partly offset by sustained remittances from overseas Filipinos, foreign borrowings by the national government, services trade receipts and foreign direct investment inflows.