Govt debt payments jump threefold in October By Reine Juvierre Alberto
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HE national government’s debt payments surged nearly threefold to P216.850 billion in October, driven by an almost eightfold increase in its amortization to lenders. Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed debt service in October jumped by 178.87 percent to P216.850 billion from P77.760 billion in the same month last year. Broken down, amortization, or the repayment of loan principal over time, shot up by 759.89 per-
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cent year-on-year to P161.462 billion from P18.777 billion. In October, the government settled P120 billion in amortization to domestic lenders while the remaining P41.462 billion went to foreign financiers. Interest payments, meanwhile, amounted to P55.388 billion in October, down by 6.09 percent from last year’s P58.983 billion. As such, domestic sources were paid P35.334 billion in interest, 10.81 percent lower than the P39.619 billion shelled out last year. This includes interest pay-
ments worth P2.766 billion for Treasury bills, P27.266 billion for fixed-rate Treasury bonds, P3.575 billion for retail Treasury bonds and P1.727 billion for others. Meanwhile, P20.054 billion in interest payments were handed over to foreign debt sources, 3.56 percent higher year-on-year from P19.364 billion. During the 10-month period, the government settled P1.860 trillion of its debt service bill, covering 91.76 percent of the P2.027 total bill. This paid P1.221 trillion in amortization, which increased
by 27.32 percent from P958.964 billion. Of the amount, P222.219 billion was spent for external debts and P999.739 billion for domestic debts. Meanwhile, 10-month interest payments reached P638.681 billion, 23.03 percent higher than the previous year’s P519.107 billion. Domestic lenders obtained P453.460 billion in interest payments while external creditors received P185.221 billion during the period. The government’s outstanding debt hit P16.020 trillion as of the end of October 2024.
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GROWTH SEEN SLOWING DESPITE BSP RATE CUTS T
Meat imports up by 17% in Jan-Oct
MARY’S MIRACLE HOMECOMING
By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
HE additional rate cuts that will be implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will not be enough to boost the Philippine economy next year as a London-based think tank expects a slower pace of growth for household consumption and remittances.
Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Veloso poses beside a statue of the Virgin Mary during a Christmas event at Yogyakarta Women’s Prison in Gunung Kidul, Indonesia, on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. Veloso, convicted in 2010 for smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia, was granted a stay of execution in 2015 after her alleged recruiter was arrested in the Philippines. Now 39, Veloso has spent her years in prison honing her skills in batik design and tailoring while maintaining her innocence. A historic agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines is set to repatriate her before Christmas. Story on A3. AP/SLAMET RIYADI
By Ada Pelonia
T
Capital Economics sees Philippine GDP growing by 5.8 percent in 2025, a projection that is “below consensus.” For 2026, GDP expansion will be faster at 6.5 percent. The projected growth for 2025 is also below the government’s target of 6 to 8 percent, as per the latest assumptions made by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC). “Admittedly, consumption is likely to be boosted by the drop in inflation and further cuts to interest rates, but we doubt the pace of consumption growth seen in the third quarter is sustainable,” Capital Economics said in its latest Asia Economic Outlook. “What’s more, growth in remittances— which accounts for nearly 10 percent of GDP in 2023—and exports will slow, amid weaker global growth,” it added. Capital Economics said the government’s own fiscal policy will serve as a drag on economic growth.
HE country’s meat imports rose by nearly 17 percent as of end-October on higher purchases of chicken, pork and beef from abroad. Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that meat imports expanded by 16.84 percent to 1.19 million metric tons (MMT) from January to October this year, compared to the 1.02 MMT recorded in the same period last year. The end-October figure is within striking distance of the 1.2 MMT imported by the Philippines for the whole of 2023. According to the Meat Importers and Traders Association (Mita), meat shipments went up despite the volatility in foreign exchange. “All this has happened despite the volatility of the exchange rate, whose effect will be felt in the New Year,” Mita President Emeritus Jesus Cham said via Viber. “With imports still arriving as seen from the utilization rate of the container yards and the slow rate of return of empties, the importers will take stock of the remaining inventory after the Christmas sales and hope the market will remain exuberant,” he added. Based on BAI data, chicken imports as of October 31 grew by
See “Growth,” A2
See “Meat,” A2
China accuses PHL of ‘stirring up trouble’ in WPS By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig
A
SPOKESMAN of the Chinese Defense Ministry has accused the Philippines of “stirring up trouble” in many areas in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). Senior Col. Wu Qian, director of the Information Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, claimed that the Philippines is “provoking” Chinese maritime forces to engage them in Ayungin Shoal, Escoda Shoal, Rozul Reef and Bajo De Masinloc. “China’s position is clear and consistent: more provocations lead to stronger countermeasures; should the Philippine side stubbornly follow the wrong path, Chi-
na will never back down,” Wu said in a press briefing Friday in Beijing. The Chinese defense official said the Philippine ships “always have a full deck of reporters” whenever they transit or conduct resupply missions to the West Philippine Sea. “The real issue, however, is never about who has more reporters, but who has more legitimacy,” Wu said, stressing that the international treaties that defined the boundaries of the Philippines “do not include” the islands in the West Philippine Sea. China reiterated that the “continuous provocation” of the Philippine government vessels in many areas in the West Philippine Sea were “instigated and sup-
ported” by the United States. “These farces have made it clear to the international community who is the destroyer of peace and stability in the South China Sea and who is the outright liar,” he said. Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman of the Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, deplored the “lies and misinformation” uttered recently by the China’s defense ministry spokesman. “Such statements coming from the Ministry of Defense are clear evidence of bullying. The People’s Republic of China aims to suppress the patriotic spirit of Filipino fishermen from accessing our Exclusive Economic Zone and to intimi-
date the Philippine government into withdrawing its humanitarian support for its own fishermen. “Beijing is escalating its rhetoric by instructing its defense ministry to issue warnings about using stronger countermeasures if our Filipino fishermen and Philippine Coast Guard vessels venture into the West Philippine Sea,” Tarriela wrote in his X post. Tarriela insisted that it is “monster size China Coast Guard Vessels” that are true aggressors against the smaller PCG vessels which are only deployed as support to the humanitarian missions to protect Filipino fishermen. Beijing has no evidence of Washington D.C. supporting the Philippine presence, he added.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 58.3090 n JAPAN 0.3820 n UK 73.9242 n HK 7.4999 n CHINA 8.0205 n SINGAPORE 43.2945 n AUSTRALIA 37.1253 n EU 61.0379 n KOREA 0.0408 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.5201 Source: BSP (December 13, 2024)