The country’s national debt now stands at P9.37 trillion as of end-September, the government said.
“The total debt stock for the month fell by P246.15 billion or 2.6 percent from the end-August 2020 level mainly due to the repayment of the short-term borrowing from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as part of the repurchase agreement,” according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The BTr said the national government (NG) debt stock increased by P1.64 trillion or 21.2 percent in the first nine months of the year, of which 31.3 percent was borrowed externally while the rest are domestic borrowings.
The domestic debt amounted to P6.44 trillion, down by P274.64 billion or 4.1 percent from the end-August level due to debt repayment. The BTr also said NG domestic gross borrowing for the year was at P2.64 trillion as of end-September.
“The total includes issuances of P1,019.38 billion in Treasury Bills, P492.86 billion in Treasury Bonds and P827.11 billion in Retail Treasury Bonds along with the borrowing from the BSP,” the BTr said.
“On the other hand, gross maturities reached P1,327.62 billion (P629.07 billion for T-bills, P309.39 billion for T-Bonds and P300.00 billion to the BSP). To date, domestic debt has increased by P1,310.78 billion or 25.6 percent since the beginning of the year,” it added.
Foreign borrowings, meanwhile, stood at P2.93 trillion, up P28.49 billion or 1 percent from the prior month. Since end-2019, NG external debt has increased by P326.81 billion or 12.6 percent.
The BTr said currency adjustments on both US dollar and third-currency denominated foreign loans trimmed borrowings by P3.65 billion and P1.08 billion, respectively, in peso value terms.
“NG external financing registered an inflow of P550.27 billion for January to September 2020 vis-í -vis debt repayment of P123.19 billion. For the period, project loan availment totaled P19.31 billion ($400 million) while program loans amounted to P344.89 billion ($7.12 billion). Meanwhile, offshore bond issuances totaled P186.06 billion ($3.84 billion),” it said.
The total NG guaranteed obligations dropped P1.60 billion or 0.4 percent to P445.40 billion in end-September, due to the net redemption of both local and external guarantees worth to P160 million and P1.59 billion, respectively.
“Local currency appreciation further reduced the value of external guarantees by P270 million, offsetting the effect of third-currency appreciation amounting to P420 million. Since the beginning of the year, NG guarantees have decreased by P43.35 billion or 8.9 percent,” the BTr said.
