The government’s outstanding debt declined to P14.27 trillion as of end-September from a record P14.35 trillion in August, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said Tuesday.
“The amount underscores a decline of P80.9 billion or 0.6 percent from the previous month’s level primarily due to net repayments of both domestic and external obligations for the month,” the BTr said in a statement.
Data showed that of the total debt stock, 31.8 percent was from external sources and 68.2 percent came from domestic borrowings.
It said that for domestic debt, the end-September 2023 level of P9.73 trillion was P56.8 billion or 0.6 percent lower than in the prior month due to the net redemption of government securities.
Domestic debt issuance in September totaled P121.1 billion, while redemption amounted to P177.9 billion, resulting in a net repayment of P56.8 billion.
“Local currency depreciation against the US dollar had minimal effect on debt stock valuation at only P0.01 billion. Year-to-date, domestic debt has increased by P526.0 billion or 5.7 percent,” the BTr said.
The government’s external debt of P4.53 trillion was also P24.1 billion or 0.5 percent lower than in the previous month due to favorable third-currency fluctuations and net repayment of foreign loans.
“The outstanding external debt for September was reduced by P8.0 billion due to the net repayment of foreign loans and P16.9 billion from the depreciation of third currencies against the US dollar,” it said.
Meanwhile, the peso depreciation against the US dollar added P0.7 billion to the debt stock. The government’s external debt increased by P323.8 billion or 7.7 percent from the end-December 2022 level.