The central bank's dollar buying pushed up its foreign exchange (FX) forwards and futures by $1.85 billion in April to $16.6 billion.

Based on documents, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) purchased almost $1 billion FX in April, and sold over $1 billion in March.

Since the end of 2009 when its FX swaps amounted to $13.5 billion, the BSP currency position has increased by 33 percent.

Of the $16.6 billion, $5.93 billion is maturing in one month, $7.49 billion in three months and $3.18 billion in three months up to a year.

Including FX swaps, the country's total dollar reserves with the BSP increased to $63.6 billion in the first four months of the year.

The BSP’s latest gross international reserves (GIR) tally was $47 billion. The central bank recently revised its forecast for GIR to $48 billion from $47 billion.

FX swaps, although considered as cash hoard in foreign currency, is not part of the GIR. The GIR includes foreign assets that are "readily available and are controlled" by the central bank.

The National Government could drawdown from the GIR to pay foreign obligations such as interests on outstanding foreign loans.

The BSP was accumulating dollars as buffer fund, to pay for short-term and gold-backed loans and to "polish" FX volatility.

BSP statistics show that its foreign investments totaled $39.12 billion as of end-April, while foreign exchange gains dipped to $362.5 from the previous month’s $519 million.

These foreign investments are reserve assets in convertible foreign currencies. It includes investments in securities and deposits outside of the country.

The central bank’s earnings from its offshore investments and its foreign exchange spot positions are one of the sources of its income and contribute significantly to GIR buildup.

GIR also includes BSP’s gold reserves which increased to $6.31 billion in April from $5.95 billion in March.