NG outstanding debt rises on weaker peso

THE National Government’s outstanding debt rose 1.73% or P135.03 billion from a month earlier to P7.939 trillion as of end-August, due to the peso’s depreciation and net issuances of both external and domestic loans, the Treasury bureau said in a statement on Friday.

Of the total stock, 33.59% came from external markets while 66.41% was borrowed locally. National government debt increased by 8.9% or P646.58 billion from end-2018 and by 11.8% or P835.23 billion from a year earlier, it said.

National government domestic debt reached P5.272 trillion, 0.4% or P21.63 billion higher than a month earlier. The increase in the domestic debt in August was the combined effect of the net issuance of government securities worth P21 billion and the P630 million impact of the peso’s depreciation on onshore dollar bonds, the Treasury said.