MANILA (Thomson Financial) - The Philippine government's outstanding debt dropped by 0.8 percent from the previous month to 3.9 trillion pesos at the end of April following loan repayments and the appreciation of the peso and other currencies against the US dollar, the Bureau of Treasury said on Thursday.
The figure was 2.4 percent lower than the government's total debt of 3.996 trillion pesos at end-April 2006.
Domestic debt amounted to 2.181 trillion pesos or 56 percent of the total, up 0.2 percent from the previous month but 0.4 percent lower than a year earlier.
The government's foreign obligations dropped two percent from the previous month and 4.8 percent year-on-year to 1.719 trillion pesos in April.
The contingent debt, or those guarantees issued by the state for borrowings of government-owned
corporations and financial institutions, declined to 546 billion pesos from 557 billion pesos in March.
Finance officials have said the government has no plans of changing its borrowing program for 2007 despite the possibility that it might miss the 63-billion-peso budget deficit target this year because of
weaker tax collections.
The government expects to raise more than 100 billion pesos from the sale of some assets in the
second half to cover the revenue shortfall.
The Philippines, one of Asia's most active debt issuers, aims to balance its budget by next year and further reduce debt in the coming years, having implemented key fiscal reforms aimed at boosting revenue.
(1 US dollar = 46.02 pesos)
enrico.delacruz@thomson.com
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