Life-changing features, incisive analysis, no-holds-barred investigative reports...and more!
By John Andrew Agbay:
Ever wonder how
activists fall in love?
How to make
good use of trash!
Q&A on the Estrada Fallout
By Allyn V. Baldemor:
Pesanteng UP--
magsasaka sa kampus
How to make friendships
last a lifetime
Busting Stress and
Beating the Blues
The Untold Feminist Cause
(Lesbian for Dummies)
By Reinier C. Dungca:
How to look for your
Perfect Crystal Partner
A Call for the
Ouster of Estrada
A love story of two worlds
(a script for comics)
UTANG! The Ins & Outs of Philippine Foreign Debt
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Foreign Debt Crisis John Andrew Agbay
Foreign Debt: A Brief History
The Philippines received its first loan from the IMF in 1955 and
from the WB in 1957. These multilateral institutions imposed the
Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) strategy to
industrialize the economy but this did not actually industrialize
the economy but only served to protect the American corporations in
the country.
For the first time in 1962, the country was made to abide by a
standby agreement with the IMF because of economic crisis. But
towards the 1980, the solution of lending proved to be disastrous
for Asian countries. What the IMF-WB did was to open-up the economy
further by carrying out structural adjustment programs (SAP)
characterized by liberalization, privatization of companies, and
deregulation of the oil industries.
An Analysis of Foreign Debt
During the years 1970-1982 under Ferdinand Marcos, the growth
rate of the foreign debt was very high. It reached a high of 37.03%
in 1976 . It started to register low growth rates starting 1983, as
low as 0.56%, although it is still positive.
The growth continued to increase slightly until it reached a high
of 7.63% in the year of the EDSA Revolution. When Corazon Aquino
assumed office, she inherited $26 billion foreign debt. When her
term ended, the foreign debt stood at $30 billion representing a $4
billion increase in six years. It was also during her term that the
country experienced the largest negative growth rate of 2.56%, which
means that there was a significant reduction of the foreign debt.
Inheriting a $30 billion foreign debt from the Aquino
administration, Fidel Ramos increased it by $15 billion in six
years. It was during his term that the growth rate reached a
ten-year high of 10.8%.
The Ramos administration left a $45 billion foreign debt. Joseph
Estrada, in just one and-a-half years increased this to $52.164
billion. It is interesting to note that Estrada made the
country more debt driven than Ramos for in just one and-a-half years
of his presidency, the foreign debt grew by about $7 billion.
There has been an upward trend of the foreign debt since the
early 90's except for June 2000. This shows how dependent the
Philippines become to other countries. This can be attributed to the
inherent structural problems the country has especially the
persistent lack of funds.
copyright © 2001. Allyn V. Baldemor; Reinier Dungca; John Andrew Agbay. University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City All rights reserved |
