PHL govt, firms prepay $3.57B in foreign debt

[edgeknife]

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the last statistics as i can recall is that, every single filipino including infants had a debt of 30k pesos...

i wont even pay that PHP 30K the money messed by our goverment.

[emow]

the last statistics as i can recall is that, every single filipino including infants had a debt of 30k pesos...

ok ra na bai...in US, projected debt per household will be 400K dollars... gamay ra na atong utang kesa sa uban...

[kamikaze_007]

i wont even pay that PHP 30K the money messed by our goverment.

..sorry as long as you live here (bisag ma OFW pa ka)..you'll still be paying that debt..tax baby..tax!..XD

..lest we forget, there is still interest of the principal debt..XD

[RMK711]

Actually, our foreign reserves are capable of paying all our debts in a single pay. Totaling 62.7 Billion Dollars, it is enough to cover all our foreign debt and we still get an extra. Also our Debt to GDP Ratio stands ate 50% of GDP so we are not as worse as Greece with more than 133% Debt to GDP Ratio. Also, the United States has a larger debt at more than 15 Trillion Dollars, mas dako pa sa ilang GDP nga 14 Trillion. Japan's debt is at 100% of it's GDP so at least we can say, we are in a better financial position as them.

Well it's called 'reserves' for a reason, that means its not really available for paying our debts. Without a sizable reserve, the value of the peso would collapse and be completely defenseless against foreign speculators.

[RMK711]

ot: changing peso to dollars? i think you should change that to other currencies or gold.... the dollar is a dying currency.... i think they were talking about changing back to the gold standard and abandon the dollar...i dunno if its really true, but technically, US is bankrupt, spending money they don' have... when the dust settles a couple of years from now, its not far fetch for US to be a third world country... or to regress significantly....

Sheesh, please don't spread such misinformation. The size of the debt is not the issue, but the capacity to repay and the U.S. being a very rich country with massive technological and human capital is more than capable to repay a debt of that size. Just a few years of belt-tightening (which they are already doing) will put them back on the right track. It's similar to a very rich man being burdened by heavy debts to his business being in a better position than a squatter being in heavy debts because he wanted to buy lechon for Christmas. The businessman is better off because he has the assets to repay the debt.

[emow]

Sheesh, please don't spread such misinformation. The size of the debt is not the issue, but the capacity to repay and the U.S. being a very rich country with massive technological and human capital is more than capable to repay a debt of that size. Just a few years of belt-tightening (which they are already doing) will put them back on the right track. It's similar to a very rich man being burdened by heavy debts to his business being in a better position than a squatter being in heavy debts because he wanted to buy lechon for Christmas. The businessman is better off because he has the assets to repay the debt.

I'm not trying to spread misinformation actually, but a friendly warning lang.... US is printing way too much money, and that's a reason why the value of their money is going down.... my cousin whose husband is working in the government also shared my view on why US economy is not doing good... It is true, big debts are insignificant when it is way below the country's GDP... However, US borrowing is far beyond GDP... US can never repay its debts, amounting to more than 50T$ within 2-3 years from now.... Some analysts said that even if they tax each citizen 100% of their income, they still be far from paying their debts.... anyway, you don't have to take my word for it... but things are greatly inflating there in US...

[miyay]

Well it's called 'reserves' for a reason, that means its not really available for paying our debts. Without a sizable reserve, the value of the peso would collapse and be completely defenseless against foreign speculators.

question bro, should the gold reserves be equal to the peso in circulation (those not held by the treasury), otherwise the peso could collapse? la lang. just thinking that the PHP is a liability of the PH.

onT: that's good news! strike while the iron is hot.

[personalmgt]

ot: changing peso to dollars? i think you should change that to other currencies or gold.... the dollar is a dying currency.... i think they were talking about changing back to the gold standard and abandon the dollar...i dunno if its really true, but technically, US is bankrupt, spending money they don' have... when the dust settles a couple of years from now, its not far fetch for US to be a third world country... or to regress significantly....

Like what RMK pointed, this can change later on. This can be true or not. But the point of changing my peso to dollars is that you can actually buy plenty of dollar-priced stuff now. Or you can make your dollar as a contingency plan later on just in-case something goes bad with our economy again.

Either way, this is win in all sides. I doubt the dollar will die in 5 years or so. Before that time I would have even spent my dollars already.

[emow]

Like what RMK pointed, this can change later on. This can be true or not. But the point of changing my peso to dollars is that you can actually buy plenty of dollar-priced stuff now. Or you can make your dollar as a contingency plan later on just in-case something goes bad with our economy again.

Either way, this is win in all sides. I doubt the dollar will die in 5 years or so. Before that time I would have even spent my dollars already.

its up to you... the dollar has lost its strength ever since and it has not rebounded... buy gold and other precious metals instead...

[RMK711]

its up to you... the dollar has lost its strength ever since and it has not rebounded... buy gold and other precious metals instead...

Everybody is buying gold nowadays and it is at retardedly high levels because it has been bid up so much and well above what its value should be if you look historically. People often think that just because something has gone up so much, that means it's a good investment when the contrary is almost always the reality. Even Warren Buffet cautions against what he calls unbridled optimism. People right now are being too enthusiastic about gold but have forgotten that this precious metal has many, many times in the past spiked to high levels only to suddenly collapse because the level was simply unrealistic. Think about gold for a moment, it has very limited industrial or actual importance, its value is determined almost entirely by the value people place on it. Once the fervor for gold subsides, and it will eventually as other sectors in the economy begin to heat up, demand for gold will fall and so will its value. If you haven't got into gold already, this is definitely not the right time to get into it as an investment when it has been bid up so high because it is far too risky.

This is not the first time people have been predicting the demise of the U.S. dollar, it happens every now and then and what usually happens is that the value is bid up to very low levels, lower than what its value should be, and that makes it an attractive currency to buy. This happened just a few years ago when the U.S. dollar was bid all the way down to P39:1 and then about a year later, it shot up to P48 again. So the people who dumped the dollar for pesos at P39:1 lost an enormous amount of money for their foolishness and even today they are still at quite a substantial loss on the P44:1 level. This is not counting significant losses from interest and opportunity costs.

It's completely misinformed to say that even if Americans paid 100% of their income they would not be able to pay up their debt. Countries never pay their entire debt in one year anyway, this debt will be paid down over several decades and it will never be paid down to zero because a rich country simply never has to pay down that much in order to keep growing and survive. If you compare the Philippines to the U.S. the peso is in fact a much riskier currency because the Philippines has a very limited set of income sources that are highly volatile. For example, we are almost completely dependent on OFWs, many of whom work in the U.S. and we are also dangerously tied to the BPO industry which is also tied to the U.S. If, as you say, the U.S. dollar is a risky currency because of the state of the U.S. economy and debt, think of how much riskier the peso is and our economy is because we are almost entirely dependent on the U.S. economy and on very few industries as we speak! Whereas the U.S. has a large number of industrial and economic bases, has significant trade with virtually every country in the world and has a highly skilled and technologically savvy population that continues to invent new markets, products and trade areas...