Govt debt eases to P7.86T in June
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:23:08 +0000
THE national government’s outstanding debt fell to P7.868 trillion in June due to net repayments of both domestic and foreign loans and foreign-exchange fluctuations, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Friday.
In a statement, the Treasury bureau said the amount was a 0.6-percent or P46.894-billion decrease from May’s P7.915 trillion.
“Of the total stock, 32.7 percent were sourced from external markets, while 67.3 percent were borrowed domestically,” it added.
Domestic borrowings totaling P5.294 trillion — up 0.7 percent from the May figure — accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt, while external debt dropped by 3.2 percent to P5.273 trillion.
Outstanding debt the year before stood at P7.016 trillion, with domestic and foreign obligations at P4.579 trillion and P2.437 trillion, respectively.
The higher domestic debt level in June “was caused by [the] net issuance of government securities amounting to P38.94 billion,” the Treasury explained.
This was said to have been partially offset by the P490-million revaluation of onshore dollar bonds due to the peso’s appreciation in the month.
A foreign-exchange rate of P51.233 against the dollar was used for the latest data, compared with May’s P52.222:$1. The exchange rate used a year earlier was P53.404:$1.
The decrease in foreign debt for the month was attributed to net repayment of foreign loans worth P39.65 billion and the stronger peso, which reduced the value of foreign debt by P50.36 billion.
“These were partially offset by the effect of third-currency appreciation amounting to P4.66 billion,” the BTr said.
Government-guaranteed debt, meanwhile, climbed by P439 million or 0.1 percent to P486.597 billion in June, but down 0.3 percent from the year-ago figure.
The month-on-month increase, the Treasury said, was “due to the net issuance of domestic guarantees amounting to P5.92 billion and the effect of third-currency appreciation amounting to P0.24 billion.”
“However, these were tempered by the impact of peso appreciation amounting to P4.52 billion and net repayments on external guarantees amounting to P1.21 billion,” it added.
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