Manila, Sept. 8 -- The country's foreign reserves rose to USD104.8 billion in August this year from USD103.3 billion in July, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

Preliminary data released late Monday showed that this increase was driven by upward adjustments in the BSP's gold holdings due to higher international gold prices and the central bank's net income from its investments abroad.

These were partially offset by the national government's drawdowns on its foreign currency deposits wth the BSP for external debt service.

Gross International Reserves (GIR) consists of foreign-denominated securities, foreign exchange, and other assets, including gold. These can help finance imports and foreign debt, stabilize the cur...