THE Philippines’ running foreign debt stock stood at $87.5 billion as of end-June 2020 as the government ramped up borrowing efforts to fund COVID-19 response and recovery initiatives.
In a statement, BSP Gov. Benjamin Diokno said the end-June 2020 outstanding external debt is higher by $6 billion or 7.4 percent from the $81.4-billion level as of end-March 2020.
“The rise in the debt stock during the second quarter was due to net availments of $2.9 billion, largely attributed to the National Government (NG) as the NG raised $2.4 billion from the issuance of global bonds and $3.1 billion from multilateral and bilateral creditors to fund its general financing requirements and COVID-19 pandemic response programs/projects,” Diokno said.
The central bank chief also attributed the rise in the country’s foreign debt to the following:
* prior periods’ adjustments of $2.1 billion
* increase in non-residents’ investment in Philippine debt papers issued offshore of $839 million
* positive foreign exchange revaluation of $227 million as the US dollar weakened against other currencies, including the Philippine peso
The BSP defines external debt as all types of borrowings by Philippine residents from non-residents, following the residency criterion for international statistics.
Diokno said that despite the increase in the external debt level, key external debt indicators remained at prudent levels.(GMA News)
