HOPE FLOATS
Kayla Sanchez opened her Paris Olympics campaign for the Philippines in recordbreaking fashion, advancing to the women’s 100m freestyle semifinal at Paris La Defense Arena. She clocked 53.67 seconds in the heats, shattering her previous national record of 54.25 seconds. Competing in her second Summer Games, Sanchez, who debuted for the Philippines in last year’s Asian Games, shared the 10th spot with Great Britain’s Anna Hopkin. A member of the Canadian national team until 2022, Sanchez has represented Canada at the Olympic and World Championship levels and is a two-time Olympic medalist. Her stunning performance brings renewed hope to the Philippine team as she prepares for the semifinal on Wednesday at 3 a.m. This boost comes amid the setback of rower Joanie Delgaco and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe's elimination, increasing the count of Filipino athletes out of contention to six, with 16 more still in the fight. Story in Sports B8. AP/PETR DAVID JOSEK
A broader look at today’s business Q
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Wednesday, July 31, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 288
P. nationwide | sections pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
NATL GOVT DEBT UP 9.4% TO P15.5T AS OF END-JUNE By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
US announces ₧29.3-B military funding to PHL
@reine_alberto
T
HE national government’s outstanding debt climbed to P15.483 trillion as of end-June 2024, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
Data from the Treasury showed the state’s debt increased by 9.4 percent to P15.483 trillion in June 2024 from the P14.147-trillion debt recorded in the same month a year ago. Compared to the end-May 2024 level at P15.347 trillion, the oustanding debt recorded a flat growth by 0.9 percent or P135.90 billion. This is due to the net issuance of both domestic and external debt and the effect of peso depreciation, which was partially offset by the impact of thirdcurrency depreciation on the valuation of corresponding debt denominated in those currencies, the Treasury explained. The bulk of the government’s outstanding debt is domestic debt at 68.29 percent. The remaining is external or foreign debt at 31.71 percent of the overall debt. Broken down, domestic debt jumped by 9 percent, or P870.29 billion, to P10.573 trillion in June 2024 from P9.702 trillion in the same month in 2023. Domestic debt also increased by 1.2 percent, or P130.28 billion, from the P10.442 trillion recorded in end-May 2024. The increase in domestic debt was pr imar i ly d r iven by t he P129.89-billion net issuance of government securities and the P0.39-billion effect of peso depreciation on foreign-currencydenominated domestic debt, according to the Treasury.
By Malou Talosig-Bartolome
A
BIG BROTHERS? President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. greets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Malacañang presidential palace on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. The visit focused on strengthening defense ties amid rising tensions with China, with Washington announcing $500 million in military funding for the Philippines. Both sides emphasized the importance of their treaty alliance and agile responses to regional issues, while Blinken and Austin offered condolences and US assistance for victims of the recent typhoon and southwest monsoon floods. Stories at right, A3 Nation and A5 News. AP/BASILIO SEPE, POOL
MERICA’S top diplomat and defense chief announced Tuesday that the US Congress will allot US$500 million (around P29.327 billion) for the Philippines to help fund its military modernization program as China’s aggression in the region “concerns” many US allies in the Indo-Pacific region. US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III announced this after their 2+2 Ministerial Meeting in Manila with their Philippine counterparts, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. “Our relationship between the United States and the Philippines [is] the strongest [it has] ever been. Today’s talks built on that unprecedented momentum in a number of concrete ways...We are now allocating an additional See “Funding,” A
FARM DAMAGE TO PUSH UP EGG, VEGGIE PRICES By Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
E
GGS and vegetables will become more expensive following the agricultural damage brought by typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon. Agriculture Assistant Secretary and Spokesman Arnel De Mesa said it is possible to see a slight increase in egg prices since different stakeholders reported that some warehouses were affected by the typhoon. “However, this wou ld be a ver y sl ight increase because no l ayer fa r m s h ave been
a f fected,” De Mesa told re por ters in Fi l ipino. The price of small white eggs in Metro Manila markets reached as high as P8.50 per piece as of July 29, according to the latest price monitoring report of the DA. This was higher than the P7.50 per piece recorded on July 16. “Vegetable prices may increase slightly because vegetable-producing areas were also affected, particularly for high-value commercial crops,” he added. Carrot prices registered an increase to P150-P230 per kilo on July 29 from P100-P170 per
kilo on July 16. Scorpio cabbage prices jumped to as high as P100 per kilo yesterday from P90 per kilo two weeks ago. The DA recently reported that damage sustained by the agriculture sector following heavy rainfall from typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon has reached nearly P700 million. The volume of production losses in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western and Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga See “Farm,” A
See “Debt,” A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES Q US 58.4110 Q JAPAN 0.3793 Q UK 75.1399 Q HK 7.4785 Q CHINA 8.0451 Q SINGAPORE 43.4865 Q AUSTRALIA 38.2534 Q EU 63.2241 Q KOREA 0.0423 Q SAUDI ARABIA 15.5704 Source:
BSP 30 July 2024