The steady streak of improvements and recognition in the Philippines’ global competitiveness can be attributed to good governance implemented by the Aquino administration, a senior official said Friday.
During the Kapihan sa Media ng Bayan held at the Philippine Information Agency, Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said that it was good governance and macroeconomic reforms, which led to the good performance of the government, and then eventually, the Philippines being recognized as the most improved country in the world in the Global Competitiveness Index for at least five consecutive years.
“Now what do I mean by good performance of the government? When we started out, our revenue collections only amounted to P1.1 trillion. However, by the end of this year, we estimate that our revenue collections would have been double that amount,” Abad said.
“In another example, we have effectively reduced the interest payments for the country’s external debt service as compared to the previous years, this mainly because of our effective liability management,” he added.
Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas noted that as of end-August, the Philippines’ external debt service burden decreased to $3.57 billion as of end-August, dropping 12.31 percent from the same period last year of $4.07 billion.
Likewise, principal debt service payments dropped by 18.54 percent to $1.83 billion from $2.24 billion in 2014. Interest payments also declined by 4.7 percent to $1.74 billion compared to $1.83 billion last year.
Moreover, the country’s outstanding foreign debt totaled $75 billion as of end-June this year, which was 4.6 percent lower compared to $78.6 billion the same period last year.
“When our government implements sound fiscal administration, our economy follows suit. This results to enhanced benefits provided for our people, such as the conditional cash transfer program, improvements in basic education, better public health services, and additional infrastructure,” Abad said. (RJB/JCP/PIA-NCR)