GENERAL government (GG) debt as a share of the economy increased in the third quarter of 2019 to 10.4%, the Department of Finance (DoF) said.
The DoF reported over the weekend that consolidated GG debt rose 10.4% year on year to P6.79 trillion in the three months to September. The total was also higher than the P6.77 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter.
The debt is equivalent to 37.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the corresponding quarter, against the year earlier share of 36.3% and the 37.6% share a quarter earlier.
Of the P6.79 trillion total, 62% or P4.21 trillion represented domestic debt while the remaining 38% or P2.58 trillion was sourced overseas.
The DoF said GG debt is composed of outstanding national government debt, social security institutions (SSIs) and local government units, less items known as “intra-sector debt holding of government securities, including those held by the Bond Sinking Fund (BSF).”
The national government debt, net of the BSF, was P7.32 trillion in the third quarter 2019, up 9.9% from a year earlier and higher than the P7.31 trillion recorded in the second quarter.
The DoF said the breakdown was 65% or P4.73 trillion in domestic debt and 35% or around P2.58 trillion foreign.
Local government debt rose 17.3% year on year to P105.2 billion. The preceding quarter’s debt level was P102.8 billion.
“SSIs such as the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS) did not contribute to the debt stock, but simultaneously decreased their intra-sector holdings of government securities by 0.3% compared with the second quarter of 2019,” the DoF said. — Beatrice M. Laforga
