It can be recalled that the government plans to borrow P3 trillion from domestic and external sources this year. This was followed by another P540 billion in new provisional advance of the national government to the central bank, to use as budget support amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Dominguez, however, assured the public that reserve amounts in the central bank and other creditors are still available should the government need to make an additional borrowing to revive the economy. For 2021, the government sees the economy recovering by 6.5 to 7.5 percent, taking into consideration the availability of Covid-19 vaccines by the middle of next year. The government’s outstanding debt, meanwhile, slid to P9.36 trillion at end-September on smaller domestic borrowings.

Source: Manila Times November 17, 2020 17:03 UTC