The unprecedented borrowings since the government began community quarantine in March last year have added P2.3 trillion to the public debt, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed on Monday, May 3.

The total outstanding debt of the national government accelerated by 27 percent to P10.77 trillion in March this year from P8.48 trillion in the same month in 2020, or when the government started to impose a lockdown.

The increase in total debt stock, which is 72 percent domestically borrowed, was due to “net issuance of government securities” or financing from commercial lenders.

At end-March, government debt held by local creditors stood at P7.74 trillion, higher by 33 percent compared with P5.81 billion in the same month last year.

Likewise, foreign debt obligations rose by 14 percent during the month to P3.03 trillion from P2.66 trillion year earlier.

Based on the Treasury data, debt securities issued by the Philippine government to offshore and domestic financial institutions totaled P8.86 trillion as of March, an increase of 24 percent from a year ago’s P7.12 trillion.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III had said the public debt stock is expected to further inch up as the pandemic-induced economic recession forced the government to borrow more money to fund its COVID-19 response.

Dominguez explained that the spread of coronavirus continues to curtail economic activity that resulted in a sizeable drop in the government’s revenue collections.

The local economy suffered a deep recession in 2020 after the country was place in one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world due to the spread of coronavirus.

But despite increased debt stock, Dominguez said the government is still striking

“a delicate balance” between providing substantial support to the economy and maintaining its policy of long-term debt sustainability.

As of end-2020, the country’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio or the amount of debt relative to the size of the economy stood at 54.5 percent, a far cry from the record-low 39.6 percent as of end-2019.

The government earlier vowed to keep the country’s debts at a sustainable and responsible level or within the 60 percent debt-to-GDP internationally-recommended debt threshold.

As of March 2021, the national government already borrowed P1.381 trillion, utilizing 45.6 percent of its programmed total financing requirements for the year of P3.03 trillion.