The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that it approved fewer foreign borrowings of the government in the third quarter.

For the period July to September 2022, the Monetary Board (MB) approved one public sector foreign borrowing of $178.10 million. 

This is 96 percent lower than the borrowings approved in the same period in 2021 amounting to $4.66 billion. 

The amount was also 95 percent lower than the approvals in the second quarter of 2022 amounting to $3.54 billion. 

This borrowing of the will fund the National Government’s (NG) multisectoral nutrition project, the government said.

Under Section 20, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, prior approval of the BSP, through its MB, is required for all foreign loans to be contracted or guaranteed by the Republic of the Philippines. 

Similarly, Letter of Instructions No. 158 dated 21 January 1974 requires all foreign borrowing proposals by the NG, government agencies and government financial institutions to be submitted for approval-in-principle by the MB before commencement of actual negotiations. 

The BSP promotes the judicious use of the resources and ensures that external debt requirements are at manageable levels, to support external debt sustainability.