Gov’t debt hit P4.7T in H1

THE COMBINED debt of the national and local governments and social security institutions increased to P4.7 trillion as of end-June this year, although the share of general government debt to the gross domestic product (GDP) decreased amid a growing economy.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the end-June general government debt rose 4.1 percent from P4.5 trillion a year ago.

At the end of the first half, P193.2 billion was added to the national government debt, net of the Bond Sinking Fund holdings.

The end-June liabilities of local government units, meanwhile, slid 3 percent to P67.5 billion from P69.7 billion last year.

As for social security institutions, they “did not contribute to the debt stock but raised their holdings of government securities by 1 percent or P4.6 billion from last year’s level,” the DOF said.

Despite the higher first-half general government debt, its share to the GDP declined to 36.2 percent from 37.3 percent a year ago.

In 2010, the ratio of general government debt to the GDP was at 42.2 percent.