Foreign debt declined by 1.4 percent, or $1.1 billion, in the third quarter to $76.6 billion from $77.7 billion in the second quarter, driven mainly by $582-million net repayments by both public and private sectors, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said over the weekend.
The decline in the debt level also resulted from negative prior period adjustments of $661 million due to late reporting of principal payments.
“The downward impact of these developments were partially offset by the foreign exchange revaluation adjustments [$96 million] as the Japanese yen strengthened against the US dollar, and transfer of Philippine debt papers from residents to non-residents [$49 million],” Tetangco said in a statement.
Tetangco said “key external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels in the third quarter of 2016.” Gross international reserves stood at an all-time high of $86.1 billion as of end-September, up from the $85.3 billion in end-June.
Public sector borrowings dropped to $39.3 billion from $39.4 billion in the second quarter while private sector debt declined from $38.4 billion to $37.3 billion.