The national government’s debt stock continued to rise in April this year, driven mainly by additional borrowings from both local and foreign creditors as well as the weakening peso against the US dollar, the Bureau of the Treasury reported.

As of April 2022, the government’s total outstanding debt has ballooned to P12.763-trillion, up by 16 percent or P1.772 trillion from P10.991-trillion in the same month last year, data from the Treasury showed on Thursday, June 2.

The end-April debt load of the government was also more than the P12.679-trillion recorded in the previous month.

Of the total debt stock, 70 percent were domestically borrowed, while the remaining 30 percent are held by foreign banks.

According to the Treasury bureau, the increase was “due to the net issuance of government securities to both local and external lenders and the depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar."

In April, the peso averaged 52.335 against the greenback, down from 48.156 a year earlier.

Total outstanding loans of the government in the offshore markets amounted to P3.827-trillion at end-April, 20 percent higher compared with P3.178 trillion in the previous year.

Month-on-month, foreign debt inched up by P16.2 billion from P3.811 trillion in March.

For the month, the Treasury said the additional debt was due to the net availment of external loans amounting to P28.56 billion and the effect of peso depreciation against the US dollar amounting to P31.50 billion.

The rise, however, was tempered by adjustments in third currencies amounting to P43.86 billion.

Since December 2021, the government’s external debt has increased by P269.20 billion or 7.6 percent, the Treasury said.

Meanwhile, outstanding debt in the local market stood at P8.935 trillion, jumping 14 percent from P7.812 trillion in April last year. The amount is also P67.2 billion more than the P8.868 trillion last March.

The Treasury bureau explained that the month-on-month rise in the local debt was primarily due to the net availment of domestic financing amounting to P66.3 billion.

From the end-December 2021 level, outstanding domestic debt has increased by P765.44 billion or 9.4 percent.

In April, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said President Duterte’s successor should avoid accumulating additional debt and prioritize policies that will entice more economic activity.

Dominguez said the debt problem incurred during the more than two-year Covid-19 crisis will be the biggest challenge for the next administration.

Last week, the Department of Finance unveiled its Fiscal Consolidation and Resource Mobilization Plan that aims to address the government’s ballooning pandemic-induced debts, which amounted to P3.2 trillion.

The fiscal consolidation plan includes the deferral of income tax reductions scheduled for individual taxpayers and removal of certain value-added tax (VAT) exemptions for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

Incoming Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, however, said he would quest for consensus among lawmakers and members of the executive department before pursuing the Marcos administration’s fiscal consolidation program.