The outstanding debt of the national government jumped P444 billion, or 4 percent, in July to a record P11.61 trillion from the previous month, on peso depreciation and net availment of both domestic and external debt, the Bureau of the Treasury said Tuesday.
Data showed 30.1 percent of the total debt stock was secured externally and 69.9 percent in domestic borrowings.
Data from the Treasury showed government debt on a year-on-year basis, added P2.446 trillion, or 26.7 percent, from P9.164 trillion registered a year ago.
Domestic debt rose P1.863 trillion, or 29.8 percent, from P6.256 trillion in July 2020 while external debt increased P583 billion or 20.1 percent from P2.907 trillion.
The Treasury said total outstanding debt from the start of 2021,climbed P1.82 trillion, or 18.53 percent, as the government secured funding for COVID-19 response efforts.
Domestic debt amounted to P8.12 trillion in July, up by P181.04 billion or 2.3 percent from the end-June 2021 level as a result of the net issuance of government securities.
“Growth in domestic obligations amounts to P1.42 trillion or 21.28 percent from the beginning of the year owing to heightened financing requirements,” the Treasury said.
The external debt of the government reached P3.49 trillion, up by P263.39 billion, or 8.2 percent, from the previous month.
“The net availment of foreign loans added P159.34 billion, including P146.17 billion from the issuance of USD global bonds,” the Treasury said.
The peso depreciated to P50.223 against the US dollar as of end-July from P48.704 against the greenback in June.
Meanwhile, the impact of both local- and third-currency exchange fluctuations against the US dollar added P100.66 billion and P3.39 billion, respectively.
The government’s external debt increased by P390.55 billion, or 12.6 percent, from the end-December 2020 level.
Total government guaranteed obligations increased by P5.70 billion or 1.3 percent month-on-month to P444.30 billion as of end-July.
The higher level of guaranteed debt was due to the impact of local- and third- currency exchange rate fluctuations against the US dollar amounting to P6.07 billion and P1.25 billion, respectively.
The government raised more borrowings this year as the budget deficit swelled to P837.3 billion in the first seven months, after incurring a shortfall of P1.371 trillion in 2020.
Data showed that the budget deficit, as a percentage of the gross domestic product, rose to 7.86 percent in the first half from 6.53 percent in 2020 and the pre-pandemic level of 3.4 percent.
