debt

National government outstanding debt as of July 2022

September 12, 2022

Amid 2023 national budget deliberations, the Marcos government proposes that a huge chunk goes to debt servicing. But the country’s bloated debt has not improved the lives of ordinary Filipinos.

National government outstanding debt as of May 2022

July 18, 2022

The country’s outstanding debt has hit record-levels. Did the pandemic really cause this or was this due to government’s policy missteps?

PH among worst performers in Southeast Asia

June 13, 2022

The government hypes the Duterte legacy but comparing growth, jobs, inflation, trade and debt figures with other Southeast Asian countries shows the Philippine economy as among the poorest performers. This is due not only to its poor COVID response, harsh lockdowns and refusal of economic stimulus but to pre-pandemic mispriorities.

New taxes to pay for Duterte indulgences, not for COVID response—IBON

May 26, 2022

The DOF’s proposed new taxes for the incoming administration are for paying off the Duterte government’s relentless borrowing for its infrastructure and debt servicing fetish, not for much-needed COVID-19 response.

PH isn’t Sri Lanka… yet

May 25, 2022

The Philippines isn’t going the way of Sri Lanka yet in defaulting on its foreign debt payments anytime soon. Which is not to say that there are no lessons to be learned from the first canary to die in the coal mine of growing global debt distress.

Duterte’s Borrowing Binge (as of March 2022)

May 6, 2022

The Duterte administration leaves behind the biggest debt burden on the FIlipino people since the Marcos dictatorship.

Gov’t, not pandemic, caused record deficits and debt – IBON

March 5, 2022

Had the Php5.3 trillion gross borrowings in 2020 and 2021 been spent on ayuda and producer subsidies, and less on infrastructure and debt servicing, economic rebound would have been bigger, revenues would have recovered faster, and there would have been less need for borrowing.