UTANG NG PINAS SA CHINA WALA PANG $1-B – BSP

UPANG pawiin ang pangamba sa posibilidad na mabaon sa utang ang Filipinas sa China, sinabi ng isang opisyal ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) na ang utang ng bansa sa China ay maliit lamang kumpara sa total external obligations ng bansa.

Ayon kay BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, malayong mabaon sa utang ang Filipinas sa China, o maharap sa sitwasyon na maisusuko ang natural resources o state-owned assets sakaling hindi ito makabayad.

“In terms of external debt, may mga nagsasabi na baka tayo pumasok sa tinatawag na debt trap. But what are the numbers? At the end of 2018, our external debt was about $79 billion… now how much was our debt with China? It’s less than $1 billion, $980 million to be exact,” paliwanag ni Guinigundo.

Sa kabuuang  $980 million debt sa China, sinabi ng central bank official na ang short-term debt o ang revolving credits ay nasa $520 million habang ang  medium hanggang long-term loans o yaong may maturity na mahigit sa limang taon ay nagkakahalaga ng $420 million.

“Considering that all of the loan agreements in the pipeline with China will be signed, the contribution of Chinese loans relative to the size of the country’s external debt will only be about 4 to 5 percent by the end of 2022,” ani Guinigundo.

“We have an existing law, the Foreign Borrowings Act, which prescribes an elaborate system of processing foreign loans,” sabi pa niya at binigyang-diin na ang isang foreign loan-funded project ay sumasailalim sa mahabang proseso bago aprubahan para ipatupad.

“There are no collaterals in any of the loan agreements… ‘yung sina­sabi na baka ang collate­ral is our national patrimony, wala po ‘yun sa mga loan agreement. Se­cond, meron tayong waiver of immunity which allows the creditor to bring us to court in case magkaroon ng problema but this is standard among loan contracts between sove­reigns,” dagdag pa niya.

“The Philippine go­vernment is managing debt responsibly, citing that the country’s external debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio or the amount of foreign obligations relative to the size of the economy is at 23.9 percent as of 2018.”

Sa kanyang panig, sinabi ni Finance Assistant Secretary Tony Lambino na ang P7.8-trillion national debt (34 percent external at 66 percent local) ay ‘relatively small’ kumpara sa P18-trillion size ng ekonomiya.