New High for PH Debt at ₱10.99 Trillion as of End-April

The government’s continued borrowing to finance expenses in line with the global pandemic has led the country’s outstanding debt to reach ₱10.99 trillion as of end-April, which is a new high.

In end-April, the Philippines’ total debt portfolio from local and external financing rose by ₱217.49 billion or 2% compared to end-March according to recent data from the Bureau of the Treasury.

Due to the issuance of government securities, domestic debt grew to ₱7.8 trillion, which is an increase of 0.9%. Compared to the recorded level from end-December 2020, outstanding domestic debt has climbed by ₱1.17 trillion or 16.7%.

External debt, on the other hand, was recorded at ₱3.178 trillion in April due to foreign loans and global bonds. This amounted to an additional ₱149.7 or 4.9% higher compared to the previous month. From the end-December 2020 figure, external debt rose by ₱78.6 billion or 2.5%.

A higher budget deficit for 2021 has also been projected by the government at 9.4%. This is largely due to the drop in government revenues and the reduction of corporate income taxes in line with the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE law.

Source: Rappler