From debtor to creditor, PH still using 55% of GDP to pay

Allow me to react to the Inquirer’s feel-good story “From butt of jokes in 1986, PH has risen to creditor nation.” (Inquirer, 2/28/12) I was elated by this piece of good news and with reasons.

Indeed, the Philippines achieved a milestone this year under the able leadership of President Aquino when the country, derided as the poor man of Asia since the 1980s, recently emerged as a creditor nation. Our shift from being a debtor to being a creditor nation means that while we still have debts to be fully paid, our present foreign currency reserves of $80 billion have allowed us to stop taking new debts. Not only that: We are also able to earmark $500 million of our reserves for facilitation by the International Monetary Fund as loan to hard-pressed European nations.

Still, it should be a sobering thought that our country uses over 55 percent of our gross domestic product to service the interests and principal of our loans dating back to the Marcos dictatorship.

However, with President Aquino’s no-nonsense campaign against corruption, including removing the last vestiges of the Arroyo kleptocracy, I believe that we are on the right track of lowering the percentage of our GDP which we use for debt servicing.

It is in this light that we must view the determination of P-Noy to remove Chief Justice Renato Corona so that the judiciary can be reformed and made an integral part of, and not an obstacle in, the fight against corruption.

But will our country ever be debt-free? While no nation has ever been debt-free, including the powerful United States of America, we can at least aim for full and corruption-free utilization of loans, investments or overseas development assistance.

—HOMER REDITO,

reditohomer@gmail.com