PH debt at ₱16.02 trillion in October

Metro Manila, Philippines — The country’s debt stood at ₱16.02 trillion in end-October mainly due to the peso depreciation, the Bureau of the Treasury reported Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The total outstanding debt posted a 0.8% month-on-month increase, amounting to an additional ₱126.95 billion.

“The increase was primarily driven by the valuation impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar from ₱56.017 at end-September 2024 to ₱58.198 at end-October 2024,” the bureau said in a statement.

“Of the total debt stock, 67.98% is composed of domestic securities, while 32.02% consists of external obligations,” it added.

The domestic debt in October was at ₱10.89 trillion, lower than that in September, the Treasury said.

Domestic debt also rose by 8.7% or ₱871.91 billion from end-December last year.

External debt, meanwhile, inched up by 3.5% or ₱173.37 billion from September, or at ₱5.13 trillion, due to net foreign loan availments and foreign exchange movements.

The bureau said the external debt was up by 11.6% compared to end-December last year.

For guaranteed obligations, it totaled ₱411.76 billion by the end of October, which was a 10.4% increase from the previous month. It leaped by 17.8% since end-December 2023.

Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel said that the government debt stock breaching the P16-trillion mark was “very alarming.”

“The government should present to us a plan on how to reduce the total debt not in percentages in relation to certain other numbers but a reduction in the actual amount of the national debt,” he said. “We must be able to prove to ourselves that we are able to bring down the actual value of the total national debt.”

On the other hand, Sen. Grace Poe noted that the debt-to gross domestic product ratio has been declining since the COVID-19 pandemic. She also said that the government aims “to continue pushing it below 60%.”

“Ang importante ay kaya nating mabayaran ang utang natin nang hindi maaapektuhan ang serbisyo ng gobyerno, at magagamit ang perang inutang sa pagpapalago ng ating ekonomiya,” said Poe, who heads the Senate finance committee.

[Translation: The important thing is we can pay our debts without affecting government services, as well as utilize loans for economic growth.]

She said the government has “made sure to leave enough fiscal space to service our debts and used the borrowed money to fund infrastructure and social development projects which will ultimately redound to our country’s economy.”

“We also made sure to fund shovel-ready infrastructure projects for transportation, health, and technology development to boost our economy,” the senator added.