Philippine Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokn. (Photo: mb.com.ph)Philippine Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said 11.6% ofthe budget, or roughly 10.9 billion USD, will be allocated for debt relief,including 10.4 billion USD for interest payments and roughly 500 million USDfor net lending.
Diokno said that the national debt remains "withinmanageable levels," adding that most of the national debt "islong-term, spread out, and set at the lowest possible rate."
He said that the structural reforms and enhanced taxsystem instituted by the previous administration ensure that the government canmeet its obligations.
He expressed confidence that government revenues willcontinue to pick up, and the deficit will decrease on the back of a strongeconomy, as demonstrated by a broad-based 7.4% GDP growth rate in the secondquarter of 2022.
The Philippine government aims to reduce the debt-to-GDPratio to less than 60% by 2025 and cut the deficit-to-GDP ratio from thecurrent 6.5% to 3.0% by 2028.
In July, days after Philippine President Ferdinand RomualdezMarcos took office, the new administration lowered its GDP target band for thisyear to 6.5% to 7.5% from 7% to 8% due to "recent external and domesticdevelopments."
The Manila-based Asian Development Bank forecasts a 6.5% GDPgrowth in 2022 and 6.3% in 2023 for the Philippines./.
VNA
