Metro Manila, Philippines— The country’s foreign debt went up by 9.5% at the end of June, one year after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed office.
Based on preliminary data, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said late Friday that external debt reached $117.9 billion, higher than the $107.7 billion level in June 2022
The central bank attributed the increase to the $7.9 billion in net availments, and the change in the scope to include non-residents’ holdings of Peso-denominated debt securities issued onshore.
“Meanwhile, the transfer of Philippine debt papers issued offshore from non-residents to residents of $1.3 billion and negative FX revaluation of $295 million partially tempered the year-on-year increase in the debt stock,” it added.
However, the latest figure reflected a decrease of 0.8% from the $118.8 billion of March this year. This pushes the external debt to gross domestic product ratio to 28.5%.
“The decline in the debt level during the second quarter was due mainly to the impact of the US Dollar appreciation against other currencies amid further monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve,” BSP said.
Borrowings from the public and private sectors fell to $74.5 billion and $43.4 billion, respectively.
The top creditor countries were Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Other loan sources include multilateral and bilateral creditors.
