The Marcos administration amassed a total of P1.2 trillion in new debt during its first full-year in Malacañang.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that the national government concluded 2023 with a total outstanding debt of P14.616 trillion, nine percent or P1.197 trillion higher compared to P13.419 trillion in the previous year.

This 12-month tally is on top of the P612.2 billion debt accumulated during President Marcos' first six months in office in 2022.

Despite the increase, the government still managed to improve its debt as a proportion of the country's economy, or gross domestic product (GDP).

The treasury said that the debt-to-GDP ratio dropped to 60.2 percent in 2023 from 60.9 percent a year ago.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is a measure that compares the overall debt to the size of the economy, offering a better insight of the country’s debt burden by considering its economic output and revenue-generating capacity.

“The end-2023 level also falls below the 61.2 percent target outlined in the medium-term fiscal framework consistent with efforts to improve debt sustainability,” the Treasury said.

Of the total debt stock in 2023, 68.5 percent are domestic debt, while 31.5 percent are external debt.

At end-December 2023, domestic debt had increased by nine percent to P10.017 trillion from P9.208 trillion a year earlier.

However, compared to November, domestic obligations had slightly fell by 0.06 percent from P10.024 trillion.

The Treasury attributed this marginal decline mainly to the net redemption of government securities.

In December, the gross issuance of domestic debt amounted to P29.69 billion, while principal payments totaled P36.08 billion, resulting in a net repayment of P6.39 billion.

Additionally, the local currency's appreciation against the US dollar led to a further reduction of P0.09 billion from the December total.

Meanwhile, the national government's foreign debt jumped by nine percent from P4.210 billion in December 2022 to P4.598 trillion at the end of last year.

The offshore debt level also rose by 2.5 percent compared to the previous month's P4.484 trillion, attributed to the net availment of foreign debt amounting to P88.24 billion.

This increase was driven by the government's sale of a $1 billion maiden issuance of Islamic bonds and the disbursement of program loans from the Asian Development Bank totaling $300 million last December.

Additionally, third-currency adjustments against the US dollar added P28.45 billion, which was partially offset by the P2.67 billion effect of peso appreciation against the greenback.