The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday said the country’s gross international reserves (GIR), including gold, are held and managed solely by the central bank to maintain the international stability and convertibility of the Philippine peso and meet any foreseeable net demands on the Bangko Sentral for foreign currencies.

"The country’s GIR is not used for any other purpose other than meeting the country’s forex requirements," the BSP said in a statement.

The central bank released the statement after former President Rodrigo Duterte accused President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s family of stealing and selling the country's gold reserves.

"Tasked to manage the country’s external accounts, among other functions, the BSP has been buying and selling gold over the years as part of its core functions," the BSP added.

The BSP explained that when it sells gold, the proceeds revert to and stay within the GIR. In 2024, the country's GIR amounted to $106.3 billion, up from $103.8 billion in 2023.

"Similar to other central banks, the BSP maintains a portion of its reserves in gold as part of the country’s GIR mostly to hedge against or offset movements in the market price of other assets," it said.

"It buys or sells gold to maintain an optimum level for this purpose, not too much, not too little. This follows basic portfolio-management principles," the BSP added.

The BSP said gold prices tend to move in the opposite direction of other assets.

"Therefore central banks hold some gold as a hedge against price declines in other assets in the reserves. However gold prices can be volatile, earns little interest, and has storage costs, so central banks don’t want to hold too much," it said.

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