THE country's external debt remained at manageable levels in the first quarter despite additional borrowings, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said late on Friday.

External debt totaled $128.7 billion for the first three months of 2024, $3.3 billion or 2.6 percent more than the $125.4 billion as of end-December 2023.

As a percentage of gross domestic product, the external debt ratio was still at "prudent levels" at 29.0 percent from 28.7 percent three months earlier, the BSP said in a statement.

The country's debt service ratio (DSR), meanwhile, improved to 8.9 percent from 13.0 percent due to lower scheduled debt service payments in the first quarter.

Gross international reserves (GIR) stood at $104.1 billion, equivalent to 3.8 times cover for short-term (ST) debt and up from the year-earlier $101.55 billion.

"The DSR and the GIR cover for ST debt are measures of the adequacy of the country's foreign exchange (FX) resources to meet maturing obligations," the central bank explained.

The rise in external debt was mainly due to resident entities' net availments of $2.5 billion, of which $2.1 billion was raised by private sector banks from offshore creditors for corporate expenses, refinancing, and liquidity.

Public sector entities' net availments of $331 million that were mainly incurred by the national government, meanwhile, were said to have funded projects to improve tax system efficiency and digital technology adoption.

The central bank said that positive investor sentiment led to a $1.2 billion increase in nonresident investments in Philippine debt securities, while prior adjustments added $551 million to the debt stock.

The rise was partially offset by a $927-million revaluation loss due to US dollar appreciation.

Year-on-year, the country's debt stock increased by $9.9 billion or 8.3 percent, mainly due to $8.9 billion in net availments — $5.4 billion by private sector entities. Another $1.5 billion from nonresident investments in Philippine debt securities and $1.0 billion from prior adjustments further contributed.

A $1.6-billion revaluation loss due to currency changes, meanwhile, partially offset the increase in the country's debt stock.

External debt remained predominantly medium- and long-term (MLT) as of the first three months of year, with a share to the total of 86.7 percent or $111.6 billion.

The weighted average maturity for all MLT accounts rose to 16.8 years from 16.7 years, with public sector borrowings having a longer average tenor of 20.1 years against 7.6 years for the private sector.

ST liabilities, or those having initial maturities of up to one year, took up 13.3 percent of existing debt stock and were mainly composed of bank liabilities, trade credits and other liabilities.

Meanwhile, 53.7 percent of MLT accounts were said to have fixed interest rates, 43.8 percent carried variable rates, and 2.5 percent were noninterest bearing.

Public sector external debt slightly increased to $78.9 billion from $77.8 billion in the fourth quarter, with the share to the total declined to 61.3 percent from 62.1 percent.

The central bank attributed the increase in public sector borrowings to $1.6 billion in net acquisitions of public debt securities by nonresidents and $331 million in net availments mainly by the government for various projects.

National government borrowings comprised $72.3 billion (91.6 percent) of public sector obligations while the remaining $6.6 billion came from government-owned and controlled corporations, government financial institutions and the BSP itself.

Private sector debt, meanwhile, rose to $49.8 billion as of end-March 2024. Its percentage to overall debt also picked up to 38.7 percent from 37.9 percent.

"The $2.2 billion (or 4.7 percent) increase from the end-2023 level of $47.6 billion was due mainly to bond issuances by local private banks amounting to $1.8 billion," the BSP said.

Japan ($15.2 billion), the United Kingdom ($4.6 billion), and the Netherlands ($3.9 billion) were the country's top creditors.

Loans from official sources — $34.8 billion multilateral and $15.9 billion bilateral — accounted for the largest share of total outstanding debt at 39.4 percent. Bonds and notes ($42.2 billion or 32.8 percent), obligations to foreign banks and other financial institutions ($28.5 billion or 22.1 percent), and other creditors ($7.3 billion or 5.6 percent) followed.

The Philippines' debt stock remained primarily denominated in dollars ($97.8 billion or 76.0 percent) and yen ($11.1 billion or 8.6 percent), while 15.4 percent was in 17 currencies, including the euro (4.6 percent), Philippine peso (7.2 percent), and special drawing rights (2.9 percent) with the International Monetary Fund.