The Philippines incurred more debt last year, hitting nearly P12 trillion.
The Bureau of the Treasury reported on Tuesday, Feb. 1, that the national government’s outstanding financial obligations rose 20 percent to P11.728 trillion at end-December from P9.795 trillion in the same period in 2020.
The total debt as of December 2021, however, was 1.7 percent lower from a month ago’s P11.931 trillion. The amount is also below the P11.982 trillion program set by the government for the year.
The end-December debt stock is equivalent to 60.5 percent of the economy, or gross domestic product (GDP), rising from 54.6 percent a year ago.
Despite the uptick in debt-to-GDP ratio, the Treasury bureau noted that the level is “still within the accepted sustainable threshold as the economy continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
Of the total, 30.3 percent is owed to foreign creditors while the balance of 69.7 percent are debts extended by domestic creditors.
The treasury bureau recorded an increase in the government's domestic debt by 22 percent or P1.475 trillion to P8.17 trillion compared to the December 2021 level of P6.694 trillion.
According to the Treasury bureau, the rise in local debt for the year was “in line with the domestic borrowing program which favors domestic issuance to mitigate foreign exchange risk and support local capital market development.”
Obligations to foreigners also went up by 15 percent to P3.558 trillion from P3.1 trillion.
“The increment in external debt was attributed to the impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar... and the net availment of external obligations,” the Treasury said.
“From the start of the year, external debt has increased by P457.82 billion or 14.8 percent, of which 6.6 percent can be attributed to peso depreciation,” the bureau added.
For 2022, the Duterte administration expects the government’s outstanding debt would hit P13.418 trillion.