Government debt continued to snowball in February, driven mainly by both domestic and offshore borrowings as well as foreign exchange fluctuations.
The Bureau of the Treasury reported Thursday, March 31, that the outstanding debt of the national government stood at P12.093 trillion as of February, an increase of 16 percent from P10.405 trillion a year ago.
Of the total debt stock, 69.6 percent were domestically borrowed, while the remaining 30.4 percent were sourced from foreign creditors.
At end-February, outstanding debt held by local banks rose 14 percent to P8.413 trillion from P7.363 trillion. They are mainly composed of government securities amounting to P8.113 trillion, a 19 percent increase from P6.822 trillion.
Foreign debt, on the other hand, jumped 21 percent to P3.680 trillion in February from P3.042 trillion in the previous year.
Of the total foreign obligations, borrowings from foreign lenders amounted to P1.996 trillion, while loans from the country’s development partners reached P1.684 trillion.
While additional foreign borrowings contributed to increased in debt, the weakening peso also caused the government’s outstanding obligations to further rise.
Local currency averaged 51.385 against the US dollar in February, down from 48.653 in the same month last year.
Month-on-month, P63.83 billion, or 0.5 percent of the total debt was added due to currency fluctuations and net financing from both local and external sources.
Meanwhile, the Treasury bureau announced that the government is planning to borrow P200 billion from the domestic market in April, less than the P250 billion set for March.
The bureau plans to sell P60 billion worth of short-dated IOUs or Treasury bills and P140 billion of longer-tenor notes, or Treasury bonds.
Breaking down, P20 billion in T-bills will be sourced through the 91-day tenor, P20 billion through the 182-day tenor and P20 billion more through the 364-day tenor.
Meanwhile, P35 billion in T-bonds will be generated through the three-year tenor, P35 billion through the four-year tenor, P35 billion through the seven-year tenor and another P35 billion through the 10-year tenor.