The national government’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio rose to 63.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to data posted by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on its website.
The BTr data showed that the ratio of debt-to-GDP as of March widened from the end-2021 level of 60.4 percent.
To recall, the BTr reported that the national government’s total outstanding debt reached P12.68 trillion as of end-March, posting a 17.7 percent increase from the year ago level of P10.77 trillion, and a 4.8 percent hike from the previous month’s level of P12.09 trillion.
Of the total debt stock, 30.1 percent was sourced externally while 69.9 percent were domestic borrowings.
Carlos Dominguez, Department of Finance secretary, earlier said one of the “biggest challenges” of the incoming administration is how to grow out of the debt incurred due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Duterte administration tapped various foreign and local sources of financing to support the COVID-19 response efforts, such as the procurement of vaccinations.
“The biggest challenge for the next administration is really to grow out of the debt that we incurred during the pandemic, which was natural because our revenues went down due to the lockdowns and we had increased expenditures, so we had to borrow more money,” Dominguez said earlier.
“Some of our debt has a 40-year term, so we assumed debt at very favorable terms, in terms of tenor as well as interest rates. So we’re not worried about the repayment, (but) we have to really grow out of the debt. In other words, expand our economy by better than six percent per year, over the next five or six years,” he added. – Angela Celis
