President Duterte leaves behind P12.97 Trillion national debt

The Philippines ran an outstanding debt bill of P12.97 trillion as President Rodrigo Duterte ended his term in June 2022, based on figures released by the Bureau of the Treasury on August 5.

The figure represents a 14.6% year-on-year increase from P11.166 trillion outstanding debt in June 2021. When Duterte took office in June 2016, his administration inherited a debt pile of P5.95 trillion.

The Duterte administration ramped up its borrowings in order to finance several ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure projects and to fund the national response to the COVID-10 pandemic.

The task facing President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos is to devise ways to improve revenue in order to cut the national debt and fund the programs he promised the voters he would implement when he ran for he presidency. The Marcos administration is not keen on imposing new taxes to fix the country’s finances, but rather prefers to improve tax management and spending efficiency.