MANILA (Dow Jones)--Outstanding foreign-currency swaps held by the Philippine central bank rose in January to $7.87 billion, from $7.13 billion in December, as the U.S. dollar retreated against the peso during the month, data from the central bank showed Thursday.
Of the amount, $2.44 billion were due in February, $2.88 billion in March and April, while the balance $2.55 billion will mature from May to January next year.
The U.S. dollar declined at the end of January to PHP42.946, from PHP43.928 at the end of December, due to strong capital inflows into Philippine assets, including the government's $1.5 billion global bond issue in January.
Economists refer to these foreign-currency swaps as the central bank's unofficial international reserve. The central bank uses swaps to prevent pesos used to buy U.S. dollars from entering the financial system too quickly and stoking inflation. Monthly movements in the amount of swaps are also indicative of central bank intervention in the spot currency market to smoothen exchange rate volatility.
The central bank earlier reported that gross international reserve was at a record high $77.36 billion in January.
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