With the national debt rising, economists remain optimistic that the the government is capable of handling its ever ballooning debt. Photo courtesy of PhilStar.
The Philippine national government grew its outstanding debt stock by P96.44 billion at the end of July, achieving an unprecedented peak of P14.24 trillion in their obligations, per the Bureau of Treasury.
The debt in July was 0.7 percent higher than the P14.15 trillion amount owed at the end of June.
Of the total, about 68.9% were acquired from domestic sources, while the remaining 31.1% stemmed from foreign creditors.
Specifically, domestic debt climbed by 1.1 percent or P109.5 billion. Said increase was due to the added issuance of government bonds brought on by the need for government funding.
The country’s foreign debt, on the other hand, dropped by 0.3 percent or P13.1 billion as a result of the peso’s dominance over the dollar throughout the period.
“This more than offset the P9.97 billion net impact of third-currency fluctuations against the US dollar and P19.81 billion net availment of foreign loans,” Treasury remarked.
The average exchange rate between the US dollar and the Philippine peso in July was 54.834, which was higher than the 55.322 and 55.368 figures from July 2022 and June 2023, respectively.
Since 2016, the Philippines’ financial obligations have already exceeded twofold following its attempt to cover costs for expensive infrastructure projects and support its pandemic response.
The Marcos administration predicts that the government’s overall debt load will hit P15.842 trillion in 2024, which is an 8.3 percent surge from the P14.623 trillion planned for this year.
While several Filipinos are worried about the rising public debt, government economists assured that the matter is still manageable and should not be a cause for concern.