The national government’s total outstanding debt as of end-March contracted versus the previous month’s level due to the net redemption of domestic government securities, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said yesterday.
In a statement, the BTr said the government’s outstanding debt stood at P14.93 trillion as of end-March 2024, 1.67 percent lower than the previous month’s level.
It however recorded a year-on-year increase of 7.71 percent.
Of the total debt stock, 31.14 percent is external debt while 68.86 percent is domestic debt.
The end-March domestic debt level of P10.28 trillion is 2.83 percent lower compared with the end-February 2024 level, as a result of the P299.45 billion net redemption of government securities offsetting the P0.24 billion effect of peso depreciation on foreign currency domestic debt.
Since the beginning of the year, domestic debt has increased by 2.59 percent, while year-
on-year expansion is 8.03 per- cent.
Meanwhile, the national government’s external debt of P4.65 trillion was one percent higher than the end-February 2024 level due to 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.
This more than offset the P4.83 billion impact of the appreciation in third currencies against the US dollar, the BTr said.
External debt has increased by 1.09 percent from its end-December 2023 level and by 7.01 percent on a year-on-year basis.
