The national government’s outstanding debt went down to P14.93 trillion as of end-March 2024, the Bureau of the Treasury said Thursday.
This was P252.98 billion or 1.67 percent lower than February’s level due to the net redemption of domestic government securities.
Data showed that of the total debt stock,31.14 percent was external debt, while 68.86 percent represented domestic borrowings.
The end-March domestic debt level of P10.28 trillion decreased by P299.21 billion or 2.83 percent from the end-February 2024 level.
“The decline resulted from the P299.45 billion net redemption of government securities offsetting the P0.24 billion effect of peso depreciation1 on foreign currency domestic debt,” the Treasury said.
The Treasury said, however, that since the beginning of the year, domestic debt has increased by P259.56 billion, or 2.59 percent. It was also P764.33 billion, or 8.03 percent, higher than a year ago.
Meanwhile, the government’s external debt hit P4.65 trillion as of end-March, P46.23 billion, or 1 percent higher than the February 2024 level.
The increase resulted from the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P44.01 billion, as well as local currency depreciation which added to the valuation of US dollar-denominated debt by P7.05 billion, the Treasury said.
This more than offset the P4.83-billion impact of the appreciation in third currencies against the US dollar.
External debt has increased by P49.89 billion, or 1.09 percent, from its end-December 2023 level and by P304.50 billion, or 7.01 percent, on a year-on-year basis.