The government’s outstanding debt surged P768 billion or 11.4 percent to P7.494 trillion as of end-January from P6.726 trillion a year ago, data from the Bureau of Treasury show.
The Treasury said on a month-on-month basis, government debt rose 2.8 percent or P201.66 billion from P7.292 trillion in December 2018.
It said the month-on-month increase was “mainly due to net availments of both foreign and domestic loans amid efforts to take advantage of generally favorable market conditions to raise foreign and local funding.”
Data showed that of the total debt stock as of January, 34.5 percent was sourced externally while 65.50 percent was borrowed onshore.
Domestic debt increased 2.8 percent month-on-month to P4.909 trillion while foreign debt grew 2.7 percent to P2.584 trillion.
“For January, the growth in domestic debt was principally due to the net issuance of government securities amounting to P133.18 billion, which more than offset the P0.20 billion downward valuation of onshore dollar bonds brought about by peso appreciation,” the Treasury said.
“The rise in external obligations was primarily caused by net availments of foreign loans amounting to P83.29 billion. Meanwhile, the weakening of the dollar, on one hand, decreased the peso value of dollar-denominated debt by P19.24 billion; but on the other hand, increased the peso equivalent of third currency-denominated debt by P4.63 billion, thereby resulting in a net downward revaluation effect of P14.61 billion,” the Treasury said.
Government guaranteed obligations decreased by 0.1 percent or P301 million month-on-month to P487.29 billion in January. The Treasury said the peso appreciation which reduced the local currency value of external guarantees by P2.22 billion and net repayment on domestic guarantees of P0.52 billion underpinned the decline.
This was partly offset by net availments on external guarantees of P1.40 billion and an upward revaluation of third currency-denominated guarantees by P1.04 billion.
