MANILA, September 8 ------ The Philippines' national debt climbed to P15.69 trillion in July, the Bureau of the Treasury (BSP) said. This is higher than the P15.48 trillion recorded at the end of June.
Treasury said the debt portfolio grew by P206.49 billion due to net issuance of both domestic and external debt. Domestic debt reached P10.75 trillion, accounting for 68.54 percent of the total. Foreign debt amounted to P4.94 trillion or 31.46 percent of the total. The treasury said domestic debt increased by 1.7 percent from June because of the P180.52 billion net issuance of government securities.
The bureau noted, however, that this was partially tempered by the P0.49 billion downward revaluation effect of the peso's appreciation on US dollar-denominated domestic securities. Foreign debt, meanwhile, inched up by 0.5 percent due to the net availment of project loans of P5.25 billion and third-currency upward revaluation of P35.44 billion. From its end-December levels, domestic and foreign debt have grown by P735.22 billion and P338.50 billion, respectively.
The Philippines has been financing its budget shortfall with borrowings. While the country's debt ballooned to a record at the end of June, government economic managers have said that this was no cause for concern as long as the economy kept expanding faster than the debt was growing.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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