End-July debt overshoots target

Just past midyear, the national government's (NG) outstanding debt hit a fresh high of P17.56 trillion, surpassing the economic managers' projected year-end level of P17.36 trillion.

- DERCO ROSAL

The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) released on Wednesday night, Sept. 3, showed that the country's debt as of end-July swelled by 11.9 percent from P15.69 trillion in the same period last year, and was P200-billion higher than the forecast end-2025 debt level.

Even with this trend, breaching P18 trillion by year-end remains out of sight, as Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto maintained that the NG's debt will settle at the programmed level.

"Debt by year-end will be equal, if not lower, than the planned P17.36 trillion," Recto told Manila Bulletin on Thursday, Sept. 4.

"We are expecting NG debt to fall by year-end, consistent with the revised projection, unless there will be huge deviations on the FX [foreign exchange] rate that will affect our FX-denominated portfolio that is about 31 percent," National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza told Manila Bulletin.

Almanza attributed the double-digit increase in the debt stock to borrowings to finance the country's budget deficit and the revaluation of FX debt.

The government is aiming to bring the country's fiscal deficit down to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 from 5.7 percent last year.

End-July domestic debt reached P12.11 trillion, up 12.6 percent from P10.75 trillion a year earlier. It also stood 0.6-percent, or P70-billion, above the projected level of P12.04 trillion by the end of 2025.