MANILA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary data showed that the Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level stood at 74.77 billion U.S. dollars as of end-October 2018, local media reported on Thursday.

The Philippine central bank (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla said this was slightly lower than the 74.94 billion U.S. dollars level recorded in September 2018.

Espenilla said the slight dip is due mainly to outflows arising from the payments made by the national government for its foreign exchange obligations, the national government's net foreign currency withdrawals, and foreign exchange operations of the BSP.

However, he said, the decline in the GIR level was partially tempered by the revaluation adjustments on the BSP's gold holdings resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market and the BSP's income from its investments abroad.

The BSP said the end-October 2018 level of GIR continues to serve as an ample external liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 6.8 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

It is also equivalent to 5.7 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.9 times based on residual maturity, the BSP said.

Net international reserves (NIR), which refer to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities, likewise decreased by 0.16 billion U.S. dollars to 74.76 billion U.S. dollars as of end-October 2018 from the end-September 2018 level of 74.92 billion U.S. dollars.