Manila: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported preliminary data indicating that the country's gross international reserves (GIR) stood at USD106.2 billion as of the end of March this year. According to Philippines News Agency, data released late Monday revealed that the GIR level during the month experienced a slight decline from the USD107.4 billion recorded in February. International reserves, also known as GIR, consist of foreign assets held by the BSP, primarily as investments in foreign-issued securities, monetary gold, and foreign exchange. The BSP attributed the month-on-month decrease in the GIR level primarily to the national government's drawdowns on its foreign currency deposits with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to meet external debt obligations, as well as the BSP's net foreign exchange operations. The net international reserves, which represent the difference between the BSP's reserve assets (GIR) and reserve liabilities, also decreased to USD106.2 billion from USD107.4 billion in F ebruary. Despite the decline, the BSP highlighted that the latest GIR figure provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.3 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It also covers approximately 3.7 times the country's short-term external debt based on residual maturity. By convention, GIR is considered adequate if it can finance at least three months' worth of the country's imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.