The ratio of the country’s debt to its total gross domestic product (GDP) declined further in the first three months of the year, latest data from the Department of Finance showed.

The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio fell to 51.2 percent from last year’s revised 53.9 percent due to economic growth and measures that the government undertook, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said.

While the country’s debt increased by 5.6 percent to P4.706 trillion from last year’s P4.458 trillion, data from the Bureau of Treasury showed that the growth in GDP, or the sum of all goods and services produced domestically, increased to P9.193 trillion from P8.268 trillion last year.

“Your economy is growing faster than your debt, because your deficit is also contained,” Beltran said. “This means that the country has enough space to attain its 55.5-percent debt-to-GDP goal this year.”

Last year’s ratio fell to 55.4 percent, lower than the 57-percent target. The government’s economic team aims to reduce the ratio to 43 percent by the end of President Aquino’s term in 2016.

The government benefited from debt swaps that it had conducted since last year, since it allowed exchanges of debts with high interest and short maturity with those having low interest and long maturity, Beltran said. As a result, the average debt maturity as of 2010 was extended to 8.8 years from 7.9 years in June last year.

The last swap was conducted in December, with P199 billion worth of new 2020 and 2035 securities substituted for maturing ones.

The Treasury said it would hold another debt swap next month, the size of which would also be around P200 billion.

“Our low deficit also that time was a factor, since such will make us borrow less,” Beltran said, referring to the country’s first-quarter deficit of P26.19 billion which was within the P111.98-billion target for the period.