The Marcos administration plans to borrow a larger sum of money from local creditors next month as the government needs additional funds to cover the expenses for the longer duration.

Based on the borrowing program released by the Bureau of the Treasury on Monday, July 24, the national government aims to raise P225 billion from the domestic market in August, a 25 percent increase compared to the P180 billion target in July.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said in a mobile phone message to Manila Bulletin that the borrowing program for next month is larger than the previous month because August has five weeks instead of four.

As of July 20, the government managed to raise only P122.22 billion from domestic borrowings. Later this week, the Treasury plans to auction P15 billion worth of short-term IOUs and P30 billion worth of longer-term IOUs.

Due to a work suspension on Monday, the Treasury bureau rescheduled its auction of Treasury Bills (T-bills) and Treasury Bonds (T-bonds) from July 24 and 25, 2023, to July 25 and 26, 2023, respectively.

According to the financing plan for August, the government wants to borrow P75 billion through T-bills and P150 billion through T-bonds to help bridge its budget deficit.

In August, the Treasury plans to offer P5 billion worth of 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day T-bills on five different dates: Aug. 02, 09, 16, 23, and 30.

Additionally, Treasury will issue P35 billion worth of T-bonds with various maturities, including five-, six-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year bonds. These will be offered on Aug. 03, 10, 17, 24, and 31, respectively.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the Marcos administration will continue to primarily borrow money from the domestic debt market.

In 2022, the national government borrowed less than the anticipated amount due to strong tax revenue collection by tax agencies.

The total borrowed from January to December 2022 was P2.163 trillion, lower than the P2.212 trillion target for the year.

Furthermore, the government decreased its actual borrowing by 16 percent compared to the P2.579 trillion borrowed in 2021.

In 2023, the Marcos administration plans to borrow P2.207 trillion from both local and offshore banks to cover the projected budget deficit of P1.1453 trillion.