The national government’s net financing fell 18.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Its latest cash operations report showed that total borrowings in the first quarter amounted to P736.58 billion, down from P900.7 billion in the same month last year.
The bulk of the financing, amounting to P712.69 billion, was for domestic fund sources, higher than P652.5 billion in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, external net financing declined to P23.88 billion in the first quarter from P248.1 billion in the same period in 2023.
Data from the Department of Budget and Management showed the borrowing program for 2024 amounted to P2.46 trillion, higher than P2.207 trillion last year.
For this year’s borrowing program, the government would adopt a 75:25 borrowing mix in favor of domestic sources.
It said that as of end-February, the country’s outstanding debt reached P15.18 trillion, up by 2.63 percent from the previous month.
The Treasury said of the total debt stock, 30.32 percent was external debt and 69.68 percent was domestic debt.
For NG domestic debt, the end-February 2024 level of P10.58 trillion was 4.08 percent higher than the end-January 2024 level due to the net issuance of government securities.
Domestic debt gross issuance totaled P708.74 billion including the P584.86 billion 5-year retail treasury bonds issuance.