The government’s outstanding debt reached a record P13.91 trillion as of end-April from P13.86 trillion in March as the government borrowed more to finance its budget deficit, the Bureau of the Treasury said Wednesday.
It said 32 percent of the total debt stock came from external sources, while 68 percent were domestic borrowings.
Domestic debt amounted to P9.46 trillion, P55.32 billion or 0.6 percent lower compared to the end-March 2023 level due to the net redemption of domestic securities amounting to P57.79 billion.
“This was slightly offset by the P2.47 billion effect on onshore foreign currency-denominated securities caused by peso depreciation against the US dollar,” the Treasury said.
Data showed that from the end-December 2022 level, domestic debt of the government increased by P249.45 billion or 2.7 percent.
External debt amounted to P4.45 trillion, P109.56 billion or 2.5 percent higher than the previous month’s level.
“For April, the increment to external debt was due to the P27.98 billion net availment of external loans and P94.28 billion impact of local-currency depreciation against the US dollar,” the Treasury said.
The third-currency adjustments against the US dollar trimmed P12.30 billion from the peso value of foreign currency debt. External debt increased by P242.83 billion or 5.8 percent from the end-December 2022 level.
Total national government guaranteed obligations decreased by P3.42 billion or 0.9 percent month-on-month to P380.69 billion as of end-April 2023.
“For the month, the lower level of guaranteed debt was due to the net repayment of domestic guarantees amounting to P5.51 billion and third-currency adjustments amounting to P1.87 billion. These were tempered by the impact of local currency depreciation amounting to P3.95 billion,” the Treasury said.