The Philippines Had the Highest Foreign Exchange Reserves in ASEAN in 2021

Based on World Bank data, the Philippines' foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$108.75 billion in 2021. This amount was sufficient to finance 9.58 months of the country's imports.

This foreign exchange reserve capacity was the highest compared to six other Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries.

Other ASEAN countries' foreign exchange reserve capacities were: Thailand (9.03 months of imports), Cambodia (7.01 months), and Indonesia (6.78 months).

Following these were Singapore (6.64 months), Malaysia (6.29 months), and Vietnam (3.7 months).

Rising energy commodity prices, fueled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have triggered crises in many countries. The surge in oil prices has spurred high global inflation, coupled with rising global food prices, igniting a global food crisis.

The increase in global food prices, combined with the strengthening US dollar, has made food even more expensive. This has increasingly limited countries' ability to meet their food commodity needs as their foreign exchange reserves dwindle.

For information, Bank Indonesia (BI)'s foreign exchange reserves fell again by 1.06% to US$130.8 billion in September 2022 from the previous month. The central bank's need to maintain rupiah exchange rate stability and to pay maturing government debt caused BI's foreign exchange reserves to shrink.

This decline in foreign exchange reserves reduced its ability to finance imports and government foreign debt to only 5.7 months in September 2022. At the beginning of the year, BI's foreign exchange reserves were still able to finance 7.4 months of imports.