Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran
MANILA – The country’s judicious management of its liabilities allows it to ensure economic resilience despite the impact of the pandemic, a Department of Finance (DOF) economic bulletin said.
In an economic bulletin released Wednesday, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the country’s foreign debt accounted for 19.67 percent of gross national income (GNI) as of end-March 2020, lower than the 20.98-percent share in the same period in 2019.
In terms of its share of goods and services and primary income, the external debt as of end-March this year is about 54.4 percent, a drop from year-ago’s 54.8 percent.
“The decline is due primarily to public sector debt which dropped from USD40.13 billion to USD38.3 billion,” the economic bulletin said.
Citing a World Bank (WB) data, Beltran said the proportion of the Philippines’ external debt to GNI is lower in 2018 at 19.9 percent, compared to seven other Asian countries.
That year, Malaysia posted the highest external debt to GNI ratio at 67.8 percent, followed by Vietnam, 46.7 percent; Indonesia, 37.6 percent; Thailand, 35.1 percent; Taiwan, 33.7 percent; South Korea, 27.5 percent; and India, 19.3 percent.
China registered the lowest ratio that year with 14.5 percent.
Beltran said the Philippine government’s “prudent debt policy has enabled the country to strengthen its defenses against external shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“This is one of the reasons for the strong confidence of investors in the Philippine economy,” he added. (PNA)
