Philippines gross foreign reserves at $96 billion at end-Dec

MANILA (Reuters) - Gross international reserves for the Philippines slightly increased to $96 billion at end-December, from $95.1 billion a month earlier, the central bank said on Friday, citing preliminary data.

The latest forex reserves represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)