The strong local currency contributed to the decline in national debt. The peso moved below P55: in early November last year from a previous low of P56.30 in late September. At the moment the peso is exchanged below P52 and this would further bring the largely dollar-denominated NG debt down.

About 45 percent of total outstanding debt or P1.75 trillion is owed to foreign creditors and P2.16 trillion or 55 percent to domestic creditors.

For November the BTr reported that domestic debt increased by 0.7 percent or P16.03 billion from October because of the net issuance of government securities.

On the other hand the decline in foreign debt of P57 billion or 3.2 percent from that of October was due to the P4 billion net repayments and the appreciation of the peso and other currencies against the US dollar by P34 billion and P19 billion, respectively.

In the meantime, the BTr said contingent NG debt – these are guarantees issued by the government, went down to P592 billion from October of P602 billion.

This decline of P21 billion in foreign contingent liabilities, according to the bureau, came from net repayments and net appreciation of the peso and third currencies against the US dollar. It was partially offset by the increase in domestic contingent liabilities resulting from net issuance of NG by P11 billion.

Finance officials said earlier that the objective is to make sure that debt accumulation is not higher than or do not accelerate faster than the economy as measured by gross domestic product. Basically this is ensuring that the relationship between debt and GDP is acceptable.

At the moment the Philippines has one of the highest debt- to-GDP ratios in the world. NG debt is 78.7 percent of GDP. (LCC)