THE Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR) marginally declined in January, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributing the drop to its foreign exchange operations and national government debt payments abroad.

Bangko Sentral data released on Thursday showed the country’s foreign exchange reserves at $81.205 billion for the month, down 0.44 percent from December. A year earlier it was at $81.376 billion.

“The month-on-month marginal decline in the GIR level was due mainly to outflows arising from the foreign exchange operations of the BSP and payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations,” the central bank said in a statement.

These were partially tempered by the national government’s net foreign currency deposits, revaluation adjustments on the Bangko Sentral’s gold holdings resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market, as well as its income from investments abroad, it added. MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO