External debt up 1.3% in Jan-Sept.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s external debt inched up by 1.3 percent in the first nine months of the year, but key external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported over the weekend.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the outstanding Philippine external debt stood at $76.6 billion as of end-September this year, lower by $1.01 billion from the end September 2015 level of $75.61 billion.

Tetangco traced the increase to foreign exchange revaluation adjustments that amounted to $1.6 billion and increased non-resident investments in Philippine debt papers issued offshore that reached $428 million.

The upward impact of these accounts on the debt level, he explained, was partly mitigated by the net repayments worth $981 million and previous periods’ adjustments due to late reporting amounting to negative $55 million.

External debt refers to all types of borrowings by Philippine residents from non-residents, following the residency criterion for international statistics. The debt stock remained largely denominated in US dollar accounting for 63.2 percent and Japanese Yen with 13.8 percent.

The US dollar-denominated multi-currency loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank represented 12.6 percent of total, while the 10.4 percent balance pertained to 18 other currencies, including the Philippine peso with 6.6 percent, the International Monetary Fund with 2.2 percent, and the euro with 1.1 percent.

Based on quarter-to-quarter comparison, data showed a 1.4 percent or $1.1 billion decline in the country’s external debt from the end-June level of $77.7 billion.

The BSP chief said the decline in the debt levels during the third quarter resulted from the negative prior period adjustments amounting to $661 million due to late reporting of principal payments as well as the net repayments by both public and private sectors reaching $582 million.

According to Tetangco, the downward impact was softened by foreign exchange revaluation adjustments amounting to $96 million as the Japanese Yen strengthened against the US dollar as well as the transfer of Philippine debt papers from residents to non-residents worth $49 million.

Despite the modest year-on-year increase, Tetangco said the country’s key external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels.