National Government debt stock up to P4.719T as of November

MANILA, Philippines –  The National Government’s debt stock increased to P4.719 trillion as of end-November 2010, because of the depreciation of the peso against the dollar which pushed up foreign debt, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.

As of November 2010, the National Government’s debt increased by P40 billion or 0.8 percent from the end-October 2010 debt level of P4.679 trillion, the BTr also reported.

Theoretically, at P4.719 trillion, each of the 94 million Filipinos is indebted by roughly P50,202.

Data from the Treasury also showed that of the total debt, P2.002 trillion or 42.4 percent is owed to foreign creditors while P2.717 trillion or 57.6 percent is owed to domestic creditors.

The National Government’s debt increased by P20 billion to which Treasury attributed to the P51 billion depreciation of the peso against the dollar.

However, the Treasury said, this was partially offset by the P4 billion net repayment and P27 billion depreciation of the third currencies against the dollar.

Similarly, the domestic debt moved up by P20 billion from the previous month’s level, resulting from the net issuance of government securities by the National Government.

On the other hand, the contingent debt of the National Government, composed mainly of guarantees it issued, increased to P560 billion or higher by P1 billion from end October 2010 level of P559 billion.

“The increase was attributed to the foreign contingent obligations due to the combined effects of the P12 billion depreciation of the peso against the US dollar, P1 billion net repayment and P10 billion depreciation of the third currencies against the dollar,”

The government borrows from local and foreign lenders to finance its budgetary requirements.

It has been trying to put the country’s fiscal house in order but external developments, administrative loopholes in revenue collection and rampant corruption in government revenue agencies continue to bloat the deficit.

The government’s budget deficit is expected to have stayed within the P325 billion deficit ceiling for 2010 or 3.9 percent of gross domestic product. Officials said the budget gap likely hit P310 billion.

This year, Finance officials are bracing for a budget gap of just below P290 billion or 3.3 percent of GDP.