Debt balloons to P16.09 T as of end-November

The country's outstanding debt reached another record high, hitting P16.09 trillion as of end-November last year amid the peso's depreciation against the dollar, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.

- Keisha Ta-asan

The latest figure was 0.4 percent or P70.7 billion higher than the end-October 2024 level of P16.02 trillion, primarily due to the effect of local currency depreciation against the greenback on foreign currency loans.

The BTr said the depreciation of the peso against the dollar to 58.602 as of end-November last year from 58.198 a month earlier, resulted in the increase in the peso equivalent of the country's foreign debts.

On a yearly basis, however, the debt pile jumped by 10.9 percent from P14.51 trillion in November 2023.