Government debt seen rising to P8T by end-2020
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 17:46:40 +0000
THE national government’s outstanding debt is projected to breach the P8-trillion mark by end-2020, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data showed on Tuesday.
According to the department’s Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing, government debt will hit P8.76 trillion by the end of next year, an 11.6-percent increase from the P7.85-trillion obligations projected this year.
Domestic obligations is seen to reach P5.77 trillion — up 12.3 percent from the estimated 2019 amount — accounting for the bulk of outstanding debt, while external liability will expand by 10.4 percent to P2.99 trillion.
As a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the projected 2020 debt is equivalent to 41.4 percent — the same debt-to-GDP ratio seen this year.
In an interview, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran attributed the higher obligations to project financing.
“It is because of our infrastructure projects,” he told reporters.
Despite the projected debt increase, Beltran, also the Department of Finance’s chief economist, assured that the level of government liability remains manageable.
“No worries about debt, because we are very careful [about it]” he said. “We are financing very good projects.”
The National Economic and Development Authority earlier reported that, of the 75 flagship infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration, 46 are now under various stages of implementation.
As of July, the government’s outstanding debt stands at P7.80 trillion.
As of end-2018, obligations ballooned to P7.292 trillion, expanding by over P600 billion from the 2017 amount, because of higher domestic and foreign liabilities.
It was equivalent to 41.9 percent of GDP, which the Bureau of the Treasury said was lower than the programmed 42.1 percent posted a year ago.
The debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to further decrease to 38.6 percent by 2022.