Government debt falls to P7.80T in July
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2019 16:19:49 +0000
THE national government’s outstanding debt dropped further to P7.80 trillion in July on the back of the appreciation of the Philippine peso and domestic redemptions, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Monday.
In a statement, the Treasury bureau said the amount was a 0.8-percent or P64.58-billion decrease from June’s P7.86 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 P5.25 trillion — down 0.8 percent from the June amount — accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt, while external debt dipped by 0.8 percent to P2.55 trillion.
Outstanding debt the year before stood at P7.04 trillion, with domestic and foreign obligations at P4.60 trillion and P2.44 trillion, respectively.
“The month-on-month decline in domestic debt reflects the net redemption of government securities amounting to P43.98 billion and P0.18 billion effect of [the] peso appreciation on onshore dollar bonds,” the Treasury explained.
A foreign-exchange rate of P50.86 against the dollar was used for the latest data, compared with June’s P51.23:$1. The exchange rate used a year earlier was P53.16:$1.
The BTr credited the decrease in foreign debt in July to “the combined effect of local and third-currency fluctuations, which reduced the value of foreign debt by P18.49 billion and P3.34 billion, respectively.”
These were said to have been partially tempered by the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P1.41 billion.
Government-guaranteed debt, meanwhile, declined by 0.6 percent or P2.78 billion to P484.81 billion in July, down 0.01 percent from the year-ago figure.
The month-on-month decrease, the Treasury said, was “due to the net repayment of domestic guarantees amounting to P0.32 billion and the effect of local and third-currency fluctuations that reduced the value of external guarantees amounting to P2.46 billion.”