MANILA, Philippines — The national government’s debt pile rose further to another record-high of P7.044 trillion as of end-July due to net availment of both domestic securities and foreign loans, the Bureau of the Treasury said.
Based on the latest data from the BTr, the national government’s outstanding debt as of July 31 was 0.4 percent higher than the previous month’s level of P7.016 trillion.
This was likewise 10.3 percent higher than the P6.385 trillion debt recorded in the same period last year.
The government borrows from both domestic and external lenders to plug the expected deficit in its budget, as well as to pay maturing debt.
Of the total obligations as of end-July, the BTr said 65.32 percent was borrowed domestically, while the remaining 34.68 percent was sourced from external lenders.
Domestic debt amounted to P4.6 trillion in July, P21.45 billion or 0.5 percent higher than the P4.579 trillion posted a month ago.
The BTr attributed the growth to the net issuance of government securities last July amounting to P21.57 billion. A net issuance means the government issued more debt papers as compared to the securities it redeemed.
This pushed up the Philippines’ outstanding government securities to P4.599 trillion as of end-July, taking up the bulk of domestic obligations.
However, the BTr said the increase in securities during the period was slightly tempered by the stronger peso, which diminished the value of onshore dollar bonds by P120 million.
At the end of July, the peso strengthened slightly to 53.16 to $1 compared to the end-June level of 53.404 to $1.
Meanwhile, external debt as of July 31 likewise rose by P5.94 billion, or 0.2 percent, to P2.443 trillion compared to the end-June level of P2.437 trillion.
“For July, the increment in external debt was due to net availments of foreign loans amounting to P20.68 billion,” the Treasury said.
The BTr said this was slightly offset by the impact of currency fluctuations on both dollar and third-currency denominated debt amounting to P11.14 billion and P3.6 billion, respectively.
The national government’s guaranteed obligations as of end-July declined by 0.9 percent to P483.9 billion from P488.16 billion in the previous month.
This was attributed to the net redemption of both domestic and external guarantees, which amounted to P1.14 billion and P210 million, respectively.
In addition, the BTr said currency fluctuations also pulled down the value of both dollar and third-currency denominated guarantees by P1.36 billion and P1.55 billion, respectively.