MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has raised its 2009 gross international reserves forecast by as much as 7% to $44.5 billion to $45 billion as it expects some official development loans to come in before year end, its governor said.

"There are some loans that are expected," BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco told reporters late on Wednesday, adding the loans would come from multilateral development agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

He did not give further details on the loans. In October, the central bank forecast foreign reserves to reach $42 billion to $43 billion by year end.

On Wednesday, the ADB said in a statement it had approved a $120 million loan to KEPCO SPC Power Corporation, a joint venture firm building a 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the central Philippines.

The 12-year loan to the joint venture of Korea Electric Power Corp. and SPC Power Corp. of the Philippines is aimed at addressing intermittent power blackouts on the central Philippine islands of Cebu, Panay and Negros.

Apart from foreign loans and investments, the country's foreign reserves are boosted by inflows of remittances from overseas Filipinos, expected to grow 4% this year from 2008's record $16.4 billion total.

At the end of November, the Southeast Asian nation's foreign reserves stood at a record $44.17 billion. Manila expects to grow its reserves to $47 billion by the end of 2010.

The Philippines' forex reserves are at a record high but it still ranks among the countries with the lowest reserves in the region, outranking only Pakistan and Bangladesh.