PH falls further into debt on ‘Yolanda’ efforts

The government fell further into debt at the end of the first quarter as the government borrowed more to fund reconstruction efforts in areas affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” late last year.

In a statement, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported that the national government’s outstanding debt as of March stood at P5.63 trillion, up 6.57 percent year-on-year.

Month-on-month, the government’s outstanding debt was up 0.66 percent.

The BTr said domestic and external obligations increased by 7.36 percent and 2.24 percent, respectively.

Of the total debt stock, domestic debt accounts for 65 percent while the rest comes from external borrowing.

Domestic debt increased by 0.49 percent, adding P18 billion to the end-February 2014 level on the back of net issuance and foreign exchange adjustments to reach P3.66 trillion. Similarly, external debt amounted to P1.97 trillion, reflecting a 0.97 percent, or P19- billion increase due to the net availment of foreign loans and peso depreciation.

A weaker peso inflates the value of all foreign denominated obligations.

Obligations guaranteed by the national government amounted to P471 billion, 0.63 percent lower on a month-on-month basis.

“This is primarily due to the reduction in external guaranteed obligations—a product of net repayments and currency adjustments,” the Treasury said.

Domestic guaranteed obligations remained unchanged over the period.

Year-on-year, total guaranteed obligations decreased by 1.88 percent, equivalent to P9 billion.

Early estimates show reconstruction in areas hit last year by Supertyphoon “Yolanda”, the strongest storm to ever make landfall in recorded history, is expected to cost the government a total of P106 billion. This number is smaller than the previous spending estimate of P360 billion up to 2017.

The state has tapped concessional loans from multilaterals World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and through bilateral deals to partly finance the rehabilitation of hard hit cities like Tacloban.

In the first quarter, the state’s budget deficit rose 27 percent to P84.1 billion largely on the back of higher spending.