MANILA - The country's foreign exchange reserves thinned to $85.75 billion in October from a record level of $86.14 billion in September, the central bank said Monday.

The decline in gross international reserves was mainly due to foreign debt payments by the national government and revaluation adjustments in its gold holdings, the central bank said in a statement.

The central bank expects to end 2016 with reserves of $84.8 billion, compared with $80.67 billion last year. For next year, reserves are forecast to rise to $86.3 billion.

Gross international reserves, the sum of all foreign exchange flowing into the country, serve as buffer to ensure that the Philippines would not run out of foreign exchange for imported goods and services, or maturing obligations in case of external shocks.

The central bank expects the country to again have a current account surplus in 2016 despite the risk of capital outflows on higher interest rates in the United States.

It raised its projection for the current account surplus to $5.8 billion, from $5.7 billion seen earlier. -- With Reuters