The Philippines debt is expected to go as high as P 9.59T as the government continues to borrow more to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
This year’s expected weak revenue take has forced the government to borrow more and in the process jack up the debt stock to a record-high P9.59 trillion by year’s end.
The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) projected end-2020 outstanding debt level is equivalent to 49.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said.
The national government’s outstanding debt was supposed to reach P8.8 trillion this year or 44.4 percent of GDP, according to the 2020 national budget.
Actual borrowings will exceed the original program as the government plans to borrow an additional P310 billion from foreign lenders to augment funds for country’s socioeconomic strategy against COVID-19.
The administration’s economic team projected GDP to decline by 2-3.4 percent this year, while imports would likely drop by 5.5 percent.
The share of revenues to GDP was estimated to decline to 13.6 percent from 16.1 percent in 2019.
On the other hand, expenditures on public goods and services were now estimated by the DBCC to hit P4.18 trillion for the entire year, higher than the P4.16 trillion programmed last March as “the emerging disbursement program takes into account the releases for COVID-19 initiatives charged to savings coming from austerity measures, among others.”
