The outstanding debt of the national government ballooned to a new record of P13.86 trillion as of end-March from P13.75 trillion in end-February as the government borrowed more to finance the budget deficit, data from the Bureau of the Treasury show.
The Btr said in a statement Monday the national debt increased by P104.15 billion or 0.8 percent from the previous month, “primarily due to the net issuance of domestic and external debt.”
It said of the total debt stock, 68.7 percent was sourced domestically, while 31.3 percent represented external borrowings.
Domestic debt increased by 0.8 percent or P71 billion to P9.51 trillion from the end-February 2023 level.
“In March, the P72.87 billion net issuance of domestic securities outweighed the P1.87 billion effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar on onshore foreign currency denominated securities,” it said.
The Treasury said that from the end-December 2022 level, domestic debt increased by P304.78 billion or 3.3 percent.
External debt, meanwhile, rose 0.8 percent or P33.15 billion to reach P4.34 trillion from the previous month’s level.
“The increment in NG’s external obligation for the month was attributed to the P84.26-billion net availment of foreign loans and P18.53 billion impact of third-currency adjustments against the US dollar,” the Treasury said.
These more than offset the P69.64-billion effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar. From the end-December 2022 level, the country’s external debt went up by P133.27 billion or 3.2 percent.
Data showed that month-on-month, total national government guaranteed obligations decreased by P3.07 billion or 0.8 percent to P384.12 billion as of end-March 2023. This was due to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P0.01 billion and P1.52 billion, respectively.
The net appreciation of the peso relative to the US dollar further trimmed P2.99 billion. These were tempered by the net appreciation of third-currency denominated guarantees against the US dollar amounting to P1.45 billion.
The Treasury said that from the end-December 2022 level, the national government’s guaranteed debt decreased by P14.93 billion or 3.7 percent.
The government’s budget deficit increased by 12.04 percent in March to P210.3 billion from the P187.7-billion shortfall a year ago as revenues fell by 11.99 percent and expenditures went down by 2.62 percent.
This brought the cumulative budget shortfall in the first quarter to P270.9 billion, lower by 14.51 percent compared to a year ago as revenue collections improved by 4.38 percent or P34.3 billion during the period.