Government debt climbed to 56.2 percent of the gross domestic product as of end-March 2018 from 55.2 percent a year ago, as the country advanced its borrowing ahead of the projected triple adjustments in the Federal Reserve’s policy rate, the Finance Department said Wednesday.
Data, however, showed the net debt-to-GDP ratio, which excludes the national government’s cash balance from the debt level, dropped from 40.1 percent to 39.6 percent.
The Bureau of the Treasury issued P255.4 billion worth of treasury bonds in December 2017 at 4.625 percent to take advantage of favorable rates. Thus, domestic debt rose to 36.5 percent of GDP from 35.4 percent the year before, offsetting the decline in the external debt.
Meanwhile, the debt-to-revenue ratio dropped to 268.6 percent as of end-March from 273.9 percent a year earlier, while the debt-to-expenditure ratio fell to 230 percent from 240.5 percent.
Interest payments as percentage of GDP remained stable at 0.66 percent.
Debt service as percentage of GDP declined from 1.48 percent to 1.38 percent.