The Philippine central bank on Monday released preliminary data on gross international reserves at the end of August: The decline in foreign reserves was due mainly to the central bank’s foreign exchange operations and payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations, Reuters reported. The central bank has said it would intervene in the currency market if needed to smooth out wild swings, as the peso weakened along with other regional currencies after China devalued the yuan in August. The central bank expects its foreign exchange reserves to reach $81.6 billion this year, against $79.5 billion in 2014. The country’s balance of payments surplus this year is expected to hit $2 billion, double the earlier forecast of $1 billion, and is a turnaround from last year’s $2.9 billion deficit. Central bank deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said on Wednesday the Philippine peso’s current weakness does not reflect the country’s fundamentals, with inflows of remittances and outsourcing receipts helping the economy and the currency through a period of market turbulence.
