THE government’s total outstanding debt declined slightly from a month earlier in February due to redemptions of domestic bonds, the repayment of foreign loans, and a stronger peso, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
The February total was P7.45 trillion, down 0.6% from January.
Debt rose 9.2% from a year earlier.
Some 65.7% of the total represented domestic borrowing.
Local debt was P4.89 trillion, down 0.2% from January, and up 10.6% from a year earlier.
The BTr attributed the month-on-month decline in domestic debt to the redemption of government securities amounting to P11.46 billion in February, as well as the downward valuation of onshore dollar bonds amounting to P190 million due to the appreciation of the peso.
The BTr quoted the peso at P51.769 per dollar at the end of February, against P52.161 in the previous month as well P52.07 a year earlier.
External debt amounted to P2.55 trillion in February, down 1.2% from a month earlier and up 6.8% year-on-year. “The reduction in the level of external debt was due to the net repayment of foreign loans amounting to P3.15 billion,” the BTr explained.
The Treasury also attributed the decline in foreign obligations to the impact of currency fluctuations by both the dollar and third-currency denominated debt totaling P19.42 billion and P8.38 billion, respectively.
Meanwhile, guaranteed obligations stood at P473.37 billion in February, down 2.9% from a month earlier.
The Treasury said this was due to net repayments on both domestic and external guarantees worth P8.51 billion and P0.11 billion, respectively.
“Local and third-currency appreciation, which lowered the peso value of external guarantees, reduced the value further by P3.11 billion and P2.18 billion, respectively,” the BTr added.
The government plans to borrow up to P1.189 trillion in 2019 to help finance its spending, up 33.85% from the P888.23 billion initially programmed for this year.
Of this year’s total, P891.7 billion will be sourced domestically and P297.2 billion from overseas. The Development Budget Coordination Committee adjusted the borrowing ratio in favor of domestic sources to 75-25 for 2019, from the previous year’s 65-35 ratio.
The government borrows from local and foreign sources to fund its budget deficit, which for this year is projected to stand at 3.2% of the country’s gross domestic product. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
