Philippine Oct forex reserves at record $43.18 bln

* End-Oct forex reserves at record $43.18 bln

* Forex reserves can cover 8.0 months worth of imports

* Equal to 9.1 times short-term foreign debt

MANILA, Nov 6 - The Philippine central bank released preliminary data on end-October gross international reserves (GIR) on Friday:

KEY DATA*

Oct Sept Aug July June May

GIR ($ bln) 43.181 42.529# 41.492 40.169 39.490 39.589

NOTE: Data is preliminary and is usually updated around two weeks later.

#The figure was revised upwards from $42.281 billion.

KEY POINTS:

* Central bank Governor Amando Tetangco has said gross international reserves could reach a record $42-$43 billion by the end of this year, and $47 billion by the end of 2010. [ID:nMNB002483]

* The Philippines' forex reserves are at a record high but it still ranks among the countries with the lowest reserves in the region, outpacing only Pakistan and Bangladesh. [ID:nSP42246] * Inflows of remittances from overseas Filipinos help boost the country's foreign exchange reserves. Tetangco has said remittances could grow 4 percent this year, higher than the bank's previous forecast of flat growth from a record $16.4 billion in 2008. [ID:MNB002483]

LINKS:

- For details, central bank website is www.bsp.gov.ph or click on http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/spei_new/tab16.htm