Govt debt reaches record P7.802T
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 07 May 2019 16:30:08 +0000
THE national government’s outstanding debt ballooned to a record-high P7.802 trillion in March due to currency adjustments and net issuance of government securities, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Treasury bureau said the amount was a 4.7-percent or P350.701-billion increase from February’s P7.451 trillion.
“Of the total stock, 33.4 percent were sourced from external markets, while 66.6 percent were owed to domestic creditors,” it added.
Domestic borrowings totaling P5.196 trillion — up 6.1 percent from the previous month — accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt, while external debt rose by 2.04 percent to P2.605 trillion.
Outstanding debt the year before stood at P6.878 trillion, with domestic and foreign obligations at P4.465 trillion and P2.413 trillion, respectively.
“For the month, the increment in the level of domestic debt was caused by the net issuance of government securities amounting to P298.21 billion and the P0.43-billion revaluation of onshore dollar bonds brought about by peso depreciation,” the Treasury said.
A foreign exchange rate of P52.629 against the dollar was used for the latest data, down from February’s P51.769:$1. The exchange rate used a year earlier was P52.250:$1.
The increase in foreign debt for the month was “due to the impact of local currency fluctuation against the US dollar amounting to P42.42 billion and net availment of foreign loans amounting to P11.00 billion,” the BTr said.
On the other hand, net depreciation on third-currency denominated debt carved out P1.36 billion, it added.
Government-guaranteed debt, meanwhile, climbed by P6.296 billion or 1.3 percent to P479.667 billion in February, down 4.4 percent from the year-ago figure.
The month-on-month increase, the Treasury said, was due to “due to the net issuance of domestic guarantees amounting to P2.79 billion and currency fluctuations on both local and third currencies, which increase the peso value of external guarantees amounting to P4.73 billion and P0.42 billion, respectively.”
“Meanwhile, net repayments on external guarantees trimmed P1.64 billion,” it added.
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