Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Wednesday the country maintained its strong fiscal position by ensuring that the government can always afford to pay foreign borrowings.
Dominguez said in a statement government borrowings used for such productive investments as infrastructure projects that spur growth and create jobs instead of for debt servicing, are beneficial, rather than a burden, to economic development.
He said foreign borrowings to help fund the country’s unplanned expenditures for its COVID-19 response were also well spent to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable families and other pandemic-hit sectors of the economy, boost the country’s healthcare capacity, keep the economy afloat and support its quick recovery.
Dominguez said the Philippines reduced its borrowing costs during the Duterte administration, as shown by the ratio of debt interest payments to expenditures, which dropped to 9.5 percent in 2019 from 13.9 percent before President Duterte assumed office in 2016.
The ratio of debt interest payments to revenue also significantly dropped to 11.5 percent in 2019 from 14.7 percent in 2015, he said.
