Stronger US dollar against the peso along with the additional borrowing from the domestic market pushed up the national government’s debt stock to a staggering P13.8 trillion in March this year, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed. The total outstanding debt of the national government stood at P13.856 trillion as of end-March 2023 was 9.3 percent percent higher or P1.177 trillion more than the P12.679 trillion in the same period a year ago. Majority orr 68.7 percent of the government's debt stock was sourced domestically, while the remaining 31.3 percent came from external borrowings. Local debt rose seven percent to P9.513 trillion from P8.868 trillion in the previous year. Month-on-month, the level inched up by 0.8 percent from P9.442 trillion in February. “In March, the P72.87 billion net issuance of domestic securities outweighed the P1.87 billion effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar on onshore foreign currency denominated securities,” the Treasury bureau said. From end-December 2022 level, domestic debt has increased by P304.78 billion or 3.3 percent. Meanwhile, external debt amounted to P4.343 trillion, higher by 14 percent compared with P3.811 trillion. It also increased 0.8 percent from the February level’s P4.31 trillion. “The increment in NG’s [national government] external obligation for the month was attributed to the P84.26 billion net availment of foreign loans and P18.53 billion impact of third- currency adjustments against the US dollar,” The Treasury said. “These more than offset the P69.64 billion effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar,” it added. The peso averaged 54.318 against the greenback in March, down from 51.906 in the same month last year. From end-December 2022 level, the country's external debt has risen by P133.27 billion or 3.2 percent. On the other hand, the total guaranteed obligations of the government decreased by P3.07 billion or 0.8 percent to P384.12 billion as of end-March. The lower level of guaranteed debt was due to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P0.01 billion and P1.52 billion, respectively. The net appreciation of the peso relative to the US dollar further trimmed P2.99 billion. These were tempered by the net appreciation of third-currency denominated guarantees against the US dollar amounting to P1.45 billion. From end-December 2022 level, guaranteed debt has decreased by P14.93 billion or 3.7 percent.