Philippine debt rising

Philippine debt rising

MANILA (AFP): The rise of the yen against the dollar has increased the Philippines' debt stock by US$2 billion, but Central Bank Governor Gabriel Singson said this would have no immediate impact.

A revaluation of the Philippines' foreign debt, which stood at an equivalent $37 billion as of September 1994, shows the recent appreciation of the yen by nearly 20 percent against the dollar has increased the Philippines' debt stock by $2.46 billion, Singson said.

This is because one-third of the country's debt stock, or the equivalent of $12.45 billion, was owed to Japanese creditors, he said.

However, the effects of the currency crisis were "neutralized" since 30 percent of the Philippines' $6.5 billion international reserves were yen-denominated, thus resulting in a $380 million increase in international assets, Singson said.

The "unwanted appreciation" of the country's debt stock, he added, "has no immediate impact" on the Philippines, since the loans from Japan, mostly from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, were concessional and repayable over 30 years at an interest rate of 2.5-to-3.5 percent.