Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
The country’s outstanding debt hit a record P14.10 trillion as of end-May 2023 from P13.91 trillion as of end-April mainly due to the weaker peso against the greenback and the borrowings incurred by the government to fund its budget deficit, the Bureau of the Treasury said Tuesday.
“The level of debt grew by P185.40 billion or 1.3 percent from the previous month due to the net issuance of domestic and external debt and the depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government would not borrow as much as it did during the pandemic because the tax reform measures implemented during the previous administration could help boost government revenues.
Of the total debt stock, 32 percent was sourced externally while 68 percent came from domestic borrowings.
Domestic debt amounted to P9.59 trillion, P130.67 billion or 1.4 percent higher compared to the end-April 2023 level.
“For the month, the increment to domestic debt was primarily accounted for by the net issuance of government securities amounting to P129.11 billion. Moreover, the impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar padded the value of onshore foreign currency-denominated securities by P1.56 billion,” it said.
Year-to-date, domestic debt has increased by P380.13 billion or 4.1 percent. On the other hand, external debt amounted to P4.51 trillion, P54.73 billion or 1.2 percent higher than the previous month.
“External debt was mainly driven by the net availment of external loans amounting to P10.05 billion and the impact of local-currency depreciation against the US dollar amounting to P59.70 billion,” it said.
It said third-currency adjustments against the US dollar tempered the value of foreign currency debt by P15.02 billion. External debt has increased by P297.56 billion or 7.1 percent from the end-December 2022 level.
Total national government-guaranteed obligations decreased by P0.98 billion or 0.3 percent month-over-month to P379.71 billion as of end-May 2023. The decline in guaranteed debt was attributed to the net repayment of external guarantees amounting to P6.70 billion and third-currency adjustments amounting to P0.91 billion.
From the end-December 2022 level, government-guaranteed debt has decreased by P19.33 billion or 4.8 percent. — Julito G. Rada
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