Repayments and a stronger peso slightly tempered debt accumulation in December last year, but the record recession coupled with a jump in borrowings to fight COVID-19 jacked up the share of unpaid obligations to the Philippine economy to a 14-year high of 54.5 percent in 2020.
The end-2020 national government debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was the highest since the 58.8 percent posted in 2006, Bureau of the Treasury data showed.
Debt-to-GDP—the better measure of a country’s capacity to pay its creditors—had been below the 50-percent level since 2011 and ended 2019 at a low of 39.6 percent as the economy sustained robust economic growth prepandemic.
However, the P…
Keep on reading: Debt-to-GDP ratio jumped to 14-year high in 2020