Philippine government' debt hits €126.17bn as of October

The Philippine government's debt reached 5.65 trillion pesos (126.17 billion U.S. dollars) as of end-October 2013, the Bureau of Treasury said Wednesday. The bureau said the figure is 5.4 percent higher than the 5.36 trillion pesos (119.69 billion U.S. dollars) registered last year. The hike in the Philippine national government debt was attributed to a 10.5-percent increase in domestic loans during the period. The bureau said 66 percent of debts incurred by the national government was sourced from domestic creditors while 34 percent came from foreign lenders. The government said this is consistent with its policy of reducing the share of external debt to minimize foreign exchange risks.