The country’s ratio of General Government (GG) Debt to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at 36.4% as of end-June 2017, slightly up from the 35.3% recorded in the same period in 2016, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported on Sunday, Feb. 18.
In a report submitted to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the DOF Domestic Finance Group (DFG) said that as the National Government (NG) expenditures picked up in 2017 resulting in a higher deficit, “debt ratios reflected the increase in programmed borrowings. The National Government operations impact the most on the GG debt ratios.”
NG debt (net of the Bond Sinking Fund, or BSF) reached P5.8 trillion, up by 10.3% from P5.3 trillion from the level as of the end of June 2016.
Because the BSF can only invest in government securities, and these holdings are considered intra-sectoral and netted from total outstanding NG debt, the decline in BSF holdings, combined with peso depreciation, led to higher outstanding NG debt for the period, the DFG said.
