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RP foreign debt swells to $56.3-B |
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(December 30, 2003 - Tuesday, The Philippine Star)
By Des Ferriols The country’s total outstanding external debt hit $56.3 billion as of end-September this year, increasing $200 million from $56.1 billion as of end-June 2003 as the peso depreciated against the dollar and the euro during the third quarter of the year. |
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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributed the increase mainly to net loan inflows from the borrowings of the National Government aggravated by the foreign exchange revaluation adjustments arising from the strengthening of most third currencies against the US dollar and the euro.
BSP Governor Rafael B. Buenaventura said, however, that the impact of revaluation was almost negated by the increase in holdings of Philippine debt papers by residents. "In line with the internationally-accepted residency criterion in the compilation of external debt statistics, these investments are classified as domestic accounts and thus excluded from external debt figures," Buenaventura explained. Despite the rise in foreign debt, Buenaventura expressed optimism that the debt level was still manageable provided, however, that the government succeeds in its efforts to contain the budget deficit. "As long as there is no incremental borrowing, I don’t think we will be in a debt crisis," Buenaventura said. "But this depends on whether or not we can contain our future borrowings to refinancing existing obligations. Once we are forced to go into incremental borrowing, then we will have a big problem." Buenaventura said disbursements on medium and long-term accounts during the quarter reached more than $1.85 billion with National Government borrowing accounting for 87 percent of the total. "About half was for the National Government’s budgetary requirements while the rest went to various public and private sector projects with the biggest amount going to power and energy development, transportation, communication and other infrastructure," he said. Buenaventura said that in terms of maturity, the share of medium and long-term accounts or loans with maturities longer than one year, increased to 89 percent from 88.9 percent in June. "The maturity of medium to long term debt had a weighted average of 17 years, reflecting an improvement from the previous average of 16.7 years," Buenaventura said. According to the BSP, the investor profile was largely unchanged. Borrowings from official creditors accounted for 45 percent of the total, mostly international financial institutions, foreign governments and their agencies. Bond and noteholders, on the other hand, represented 29 percent of the total, while banks and other financial institutions represented 18 percent. The country’s currency exposure remained largely in two major currencies: US dollar (55 percent) and the Japanese Yen (27 percent). The rest were denominated in 16 other currencies with special drawing rights (SDRs) and the euro each accounting for four percent of the total. home | latest news |
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