April 26 (Reuters) - The Philippine's debt-to-GDP ratio fell last year to its lowest since just after the Asian financial crisis, and the government said it had also increased the average debt maturity by nearly a year in its first six months in office.
The Bureau of Treasury said government debt was 4.718 trillion pesos ($109 billion) in 2010, and the ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) fell to 55.4 percent, the lowest since 1998 when the ratio was at 53.3 percent.
Swaps of local and foreign currency debt saw the average maturity for government debt lengthen to 8.8 years at end-December from 7.9 years in June, with the average debt maturity for foreign liabilities at 11.4 years.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the debt profile meant there would be more resources to finance infrastructure projects and social spending the government hopes will boost growth.
The Southeast Asian country estimates total borrowings this year of 772.9 billion pesos, of which 73 percent will be raised from the local bond market. It wants to cut the budget deficit to 3.2 percent of GDP this year from 3.7 percent of GDP. ($1 = 43.3 Philippine Pesos)
(Reporting by Karen Lema) Keywords: PHILIPPINES ECONOMY/DEBT
(karen.lema@thomsonreuters.com)(+632 841-8938)(Reuters Messaging: karen.lema.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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