The country’s external debt stock fell by $ 1.4 billion or 1.5% to $ 97 billion at the end of March from $ 98.5 billion in December, said Governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Benjamin Diokno, this weekend. “The decline in the level of debt in the first quarter of 2021 was caused mainly by net repayments of $ 3.1 billion attributed to the settlement of bonds by private local banks and the buyback by the national government of its bonds. maturing, ”Diokno said in a statement. . He said the negative exchange rate revaluation of $ 1 billion contributed to the decline as the US dollar strengthened against other currencies amid rising yields on US Treasury bonds. The downward impact of net redemptions and currency revaluation more than offset adjustments of $ 2.3 billion from prior periods and the $ 365 million increase in non-resident investments in securities of Filipino debt issued abroad. The data showed, however, that on a year-over-year basis, the country’s outstanding debt increased by $ 15.6 billion due to net cash of $ 13.5 billion, mostly from the national government and non-private institutions. banking; transfer of Philippine debt securities from residents to non-residents for $ 1.1 billion; adjustments of $ 687 million for prior periods; and a positive currency revaluation of $ 390 million. External debt refers to all types of borrowing by Filipino residents from non-residents, according to the residency criterion for international statistics. Diokno said the main external debt indicators remained at cautious levels. Gross international reserves stood at $ 104.5 billion at the end of March and represented 7.7 times the coverage of short-term debt based on the concept of initial maturity. He said the maturity profile of the country’s external debt remained primarily medium to long-term in nature (those with original maturities greater than one year), with a total share of 85.9%. Short-term accounts (or those with original maturities of up to one year) comprised the balance of 14.1 percent of outstanding debt and consisted of bank debts, trade credits and others. Public sector external debt in the first quarter increased to $ 56.8 billion from $ 58.1 billion in the fourth quarter. About $ 50.8 billion of public sector bonds were national government borrowings while the remaining $ 5.9 billion were loans from state-owned and controlled companies, government financial institutions and the government. BSP. Private sector debt fell slightly from $ 40.4 billion at the end of December 2020 to $ 40.3 billion at the end of March 2021, although the total share fell from 41.0% to 41.5%. The decline was due to the settlement of maturing bonds by domestic private banks; increased investment by residents in Philippine debt securities issued abroad; and a negative revaluation of the exchange rate, which slightly offset the increase caused by the adjustments of previous periods. The main creditor countries were Japan ($ 15.3 billion), the Netherlands ($ 3.2 billion), the United States ($ 3.0 billion) and the United Kingdom (2.5 billion billions of dollars). The composition of creditors continues to be well diversified. Borrowing in the form of bonds / notes accounted for the largest share (35.8%) of the total external debt stock, followed by loans from official sources (multilateral and bilateral creditors) including Japan, 8.7 billion of dollars ; China, $ 1.1 billion; and France, $ 722 million, among others. The country’s outstanding debt remained largely denominated in US dollars (56.9%) and Japanese yen (11.4%). US dollar-denominated multi-currency loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank accounted for 19.5 percent. The 12.2 percent balance was in 14 other currencies, including the Philippine peso, the euro and the SDR.

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