RP external debt down 1.9% to $53B

[jhonny]

---

RP niubos ang nautang 53BIL dollars na lang (53bil dollar x45 pesso) makalipong ni
RP finally pays off $1.2-Bil Bataan N-plant for almost 32 years

i hope we can pay that 53 bil dollars a soon as possible

can THE GOVERNEMNT run the country without too much foreign dollar borrowing?

mmm finacing government project with BOT instead of foreign loan is one way of lessening our dept








http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/Story_Pag...1/Default.aspx

http://manilamaildc.net/article2316.html

[mcbernz007]

mayna lang naa GOOD NEWS.

[edgeknife]

it's a good news anyway. still, our debts still goes up.

[gareb]

it's strange that we were able to reduce our debt only because of the currency appreciation and not because we have actually paid for it. which says a lot about how much our sacrifices to pay for these odious debts are not really worth them anyway.

By sector allocation, debt service still got the biggest chunk of the budget at 28.3% followed by social services (health and education), 28.1%; 21.8% for economic services (agriculture, trade, and natural resource), 16.2% for general public services, and 4.8% for defense.

-Philippine Daily Inquirer


Freedom From Debt Coalition President Ana Maria Nemenzo says the seeming rosy picture of the country’s debt being prudently managed has been achieved mainly because of the strategy to pre-pay loans in exchange for new loans with longer maturity. This has been coupled with a strong peso, thanks to increasing remittances from overseas Filipino workers, and a decrease in the number of agencies availing of direct loans (both foreign and domestic).

“This is Arroyo’s own ‘FrancSwiss’ scam,� claims Nemenzo of the government’s core debt management strategy to borrow heavily to pay old debts, which an ADB study likened to playing the Ponzi game (commonly known as pyramiding). “It might be working at the moment but is highly unsustainable. And it prioritizes the interest of the creditors over the interest and needs of the Filipinos.�

- Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

[kim_gonz]

Even though it's 1%, it's still progress....

[pam]

still a good news.. slowly but atleast we are going there.. kudos

[gareb]

all i can say is don't jump to hasty conclusions. things may not be what they seem. good news for now, but very bad news later.

Unmasking the myth of what she calls “Arroyonomics,� Pascual said that Arroyo’s economic successes remain anchored on short-term solutions, only this time with the central objective of ensuring her political survival.

"`Arroyonomics’ sees credit upgrade as the key to survival,� Pascual said. “Its main strategies are to finance the machinery for survival, and maintain the confidence of the creditor community by continuously stressing that the problem is political and not economic. So that the desired outcome would be a lower debt to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio, lower debt service, and smaller deficit to GDP ratio,� explained Pascual. Hopefully, these will give her the credit upgrade that she needs and therefore she can hang on until 2010 and beyond.�

Access to credit is really a big confidence game, said Pascual. “And what we’ve been told is that the government hires PR agency consultants to facilitate dialogs with the credit rating agencies just to improve its rating. It figures the credit rating agencies are easy to deceive since they are only after the bottom line.�

- Unmasking the myth of Arroyonomics, PCIJ


Economist Maitet Diokno-Pascual, in her assessment of Arroyo’s economic strategies, attributed the lingering debt burden to the government’s reliance on borrowing — even overborrowing — to raise revenues and finance the deficit, including the international reserves of the Bangko Sentral. This, she said, is meant to “improve� the country’s fiscal condition so as to maintain the confidence of creditors who are only after the bottom line.

By FDC’s accounting, these debts have not been used to propel real economic growth and development. Expenditures for capital outlay for productive public investments and services have consistently declined under Arroyo’s term, claimed Nemenzo, citing the dwindling capital outlay as a ratio of gross total borrowings, down from 27.2 percent in 2001 to only 10.5 percent last year.

-The Debt Burden and Arroyo's Borrowing Addiction, PCIJ

[INFRACTION]

about the nuclear power plant @ bataan.. better make use of it tuo man anang nuclear meltdown oi... mao japon matay ghapon ta bsag walai nuclear meltdown hehe

[Godfather]

It is good news only if we pay our debt now but since we're not, GMA's supposed economic gain is in paper only.

[mata_hari]

i'm critical in believing the news nowadays... but heck.. if this is not sugar-coated... then this is definitely good news.