Philippines' debt balloons to USD 232 bn in July

Manila, Sep 1 (IANS) The Philippines' debt ballooned to 11.61 trillion pesos (roughly USD 232 billion) at the end of July, according to the latest data released by the Philippines Bureau of Treasury.The bureau said the country's total debt in July increased by 444.43 billion pesos (roughly USD 8.88 billion) or 4 per cent from June due to peso depreciation and the national government's borrowings from foreign and local lenders, reports Xinhua news agency.Of the total debt stock, 30.1 per cent was sourced externally while 69.9 per cent was domestic. Foreign debt has increased by 12.6 per cent from the end-December 2020 level, showed the data released on Tuesday. The Philippines has been waging a costly battle against Covid-19 since the disease emerged in January last year. The highly infectious viral disease has since infected over 2 million people, causing 33,533 deaths.
--IANS int/shs/bg