ANN/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER – The Philippines’ total foreign debt inched up to USD128.7 billion in the first quarter amid “positive investor sentiment” that encouraged many private companies to tap the global capital market, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported.
Central bank data showed total external obligations of both the public and private sector went up by 2.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, from the USD125.4 billion recorded in the last quarter of 2023.
As a share of the economy, total offshore liabilities rose to 29 per cent from 28.7 per cent previously, staying at manageable levels, the BSP said.
At the same time, 86.7 per cent of the entire external debt pile consisted of borrowings that are payable in more than one year.
Data showed the weighted average maturity for all medium to long-term debts stood at 16.8 years, with public sector borrowings having longer average tenor of 20.1 years versus 7.6 years for the private sector.
Major creditor countries were Japan (USD15.2 billion), Britain (USD4.6 billion), and the Netherlands (USD3.9 billion).
Overall, the central bank said “positive investor sentiment” pushed up foreign investments in Philippines debt securities by USD1.2 billion.
Broken down, the rise in offshore debt in the first quarter was mainly due to fresh borrowings largely by private banks, which raised USD2.1 billion from foreign creditors to be used for budgetary support and to refinance old debts.
That, in turn, pushed up private sector debt by 4.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter to USD49.8 billion, accounting for 38.7 per cent of the total.
