The national government’s outstanding debt jumped to P14.35 trillion as of end-August, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.
According to the BTr, the outstanding debt stock went up 0.7 percent from the previous month’s level, primarily due to the peso depreciating from 54.834 to 56.651 against the US dollar over the reference period.
Year-on-year, the national government’s recorded an increase of 10.2 percent from August 2022’s P13.02 trillion.
Domestic debt as of end-August 2023 settled at P9.79 trillion, 0.2 percent lower than the previous month due to large retail bond maturities.
“New domestic debt issued during the month totaled P229.29 billion with debt redemption of P253.43 billion, resulting in a net repayment of P24.14 billion. This was partially offset by the P2.9 billion incremental value caused by peso depreciation on foreign currency-denominated domestic securities,” the BTr said.
The local debt recorded a year-on-year increase of 9.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the external debt of P4.56 trillion was 2.9 percent higher month-over-month, mainly because of the weaker peso.
The BTr said peso depreciation against the US dollar caused a P146.85 billion upward revaluation of US dollar-denominated debt in August, although partially offset by the P22.11 billion downward revaluation of the third-currency debt component.
“Net availment of foreign loans also added P1.78 billion to the reference month’s external debt stock,” the BTr said.
The foreign debt as of end-August recorded an 11.8 percent increase from P4.08 trillion in the same period a year ago.
