Foreign debts under Noy rockets to $61B

Amid the failure of revenue collection agencies to improve their tax take and the record budget deficit the past two years, the country’s outstanding external debt soared to $60.9 billion as of March, up by $900 million from end-December 2010’s $60 billion and by $4 billion year-on-year.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) still said the country’s external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels despite the rise in foreign debt.

BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. traced the increase to the new borrowings both by the public and the private sectors amounting to $1.8 billion in the first quarter alone this year.

He, however, said the liabilities were offset by the $1 billion hike in resident investments in overseas-issued Philippine debt instruments.

Year-on-year, the increase was attributed to the net availments of nearly $3.4 billion, both by the public and the public sectors, and the foreign exchange revaluation adjustments amounting to $2.2 billion on account of the weaker US dollar.

The impact of these factors were partially eased by the higher investments by residents in Philippines bonds and notes issued abroad of $1.8 billion, Tetangco said.

“Major external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels during the first quarter,” he said.

Tetangco said that despite the expansion in the country’s dollar-denominated liabilities, the country’s dollar reserves remained strong with the end-March 2011 level at $66 billion.

He said the ratio of the GIR to short-term debt in the first quarter this year stood at 9.7 percent in terms of original maturity and 6.6 percent under the remaining maturity “much higher than the international benchmark of one percent.”

Also, the country’s external debt ratio as a percentage of gross national income got better in the first three months this year to 22.2 percent from year-ago’s 24.4 percent.

In terms of its percentage to gross domestic product (GDP), the ratio improved to 29.5 percent as of last March over year-ago’s 32.5 percent.

Tetangco said the external debt service ratio (DSR), or the proportion of total principal and interest payments to exports of goods and receipts from services and income, also got better after it stood at 8.3 percent in the first three months this year over the 10.3 percent in March last year. –Daily Tribune