The national government’s gross borrowings in January to April fell by 6.23 percent year-on-year amid lower domestic financing.
According to the latest cash operations report posted on the BTr website, the government’s gross borrowings in the first four months of the year declined to P1.11 trillion from the P1.18 trillion recorded a year ago.
Gross domestic borrowings for the period accounted for the bigger chunk amounting to P780.79 billion, down 14.71 percent from the year ago level of P915.49 billion.
Of the said amount, P461.15 billion is in fixed rate treasury bonds (RTB), while P35.87 billion was accounted for by treasury bills.
In February, the government also raised P283.76 billion from its 5.5-year RTB offer.
Meanwhile, the BTr data also showed that gross external borrowings for the period jumped by 22.76 percent to P328.88 billion from P267.91 billion a year ago.
Project loans totaled to P31.98 billion while P133.3 billion was from program loans.
The government also raised P163.61 billion from its global bond issuance in January, when it had a triple-tranche US dollar bond sale.
In April alone, the government recorded gross financing of P129.91 billion, 28.29 percent up from P101.26 billion a year ago.
Gross domestic borrowings amounted to P961.13 billion while foreign borrowings stood at P33.78 billion.
The BTr earlier reported that the national government posted a wider surplus in April amid the strong collection performance during the said month.
The government recorded a P66.8 billion budget surplus in April 2023, far higher compared to the previous year’s surplus of P4.9 billion for the same month as the acceleration in revenues outstripped the growth of expenditures.
The cumulative deficit, on the other hand, decreased by 34.57 percent to P204.1 billion versus the budget gap incurred during the same four-month period last year of P311.9 billion.
