MANILA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' gross international reserves (GIR) level rose to 105.5 billion U.S. dollars as of end-May from 105.3 billion dollars as of end-April, the Philippine central bank said Friday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the May GIR level provides "a robust external liquidity buffer," equivalent to 7.3 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

According to the central bank, the May GIR level is about 3.7 times the country's short-term external debt based on residual maturity.

The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected mainly the upward valuation adjustments in the BSP's gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, the net income from the BSP's investments abroad, and the national government's net foreign currency deposits with the BSP, the central bank said in its statement. ■