The country's outstanding public sector debt (OPSD) rose in the first semester of the year to ₱7.83 trillion, equivalent to 70.2 percent of the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP).
Data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed the country's public sector debt ratio-to-GDP improved from 73.1 percent in the same period last year and 71.3 percent during the first three-months of this year.
The OPSD represents a nominal increase of ₱42.4 billion from the end March 2013 debt of ₱7.69 trillion, while total domestic debt of the public sector decreased by ₱23 billion from March 2013 to ₱5.52 trillion while foreign debt increased to ₱2.21 trillion.
Meanwhile, consolidated non-financial public sector debt was up by 4.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to ₱5.7 trillion, equivalent to 51.8 percent of GDP, in the second quarter.
The DOF attributed the increase in non-financial public sector debt on ₱169.8 billion increase in the obligation of the National Government, the Local Government Units (LGUs) and the increase in debt of both the domestic and foreign liabilities of the 14 major non-financial government corporations (MNFGCs).
The outstanding debt of the financial public corporations, however, declined by 2.7 percent to a level of ₱3.8 trillion.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) debt registered an decrease of 2.8 percent offset by a slight increase of 0.1 percent in the debt of the Government Financial Institutions (GFIs) from March 2013 level. As of June 2013, 28.7 percent of the total consolidated outstanding public sector debt is owed to foreign creditors and the remaining 71.3 percent is owed to domestic creditors.
Likewise, the ratio of General Government (GG) debt to GDP increased to 39.2 percent from 38.5 percent as of March 2013, but lower than the 41.2 percent in the same quarter last year.
GG debt includes National Government with Bond Sinking Fund (BSF), the Central Bank-Board of Liquidators (CB-BOL), Social Security Institutions (SSIs) and the Local Government Units (LGUs) less intra-sector debt holdings. – Manila Bulletin
