The Philippines' outstanding debt stood at 3.89 trillion pesos (75.9 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of last year, up 2.1 percent from the level of 3.81 trillion pesos (74.3 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2004, the Bureau of Treasury said on Monday.

However, the last December level was lower than 3.91 trillion pesos (76.3 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of November, the Bureau of Treasury said in a statement.

According to the Bureau of Treasury, the government's debt-to- GDP decreased to 72 percent at the end of 2005 from the 2004 level of 79 percent.

"This was the result of lower borrowings of the national government because of the decline in the fiscal deficit," National Treasurer Omar Cruz said.

The government aims to bring its debt down to 56 percent of GDP by 2008, in line with its goal of balancing the budget, Cruz added.

The latest figures show that 1.72 trillion pesos (33.6 billion U.S. dollars) or 44 percent of the total is owed to foreign creditors, while 2.17 trillion pesos (42.3 billion U.S. dollars) or 56 percent are obligations to domestic creditors.

The domestic debt rose 8.1 percent or 163.1 billion pesos (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) as government issued more debt paper, while its foreign debt fell 4.8 percent or by 87 billion pesos (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) partly because of the peso's appreciation against the U.S. dollar.

Source: Xinhua