The national government’s outstanding debt stood at P13.7 trillion as of end-January 2023, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.
In a statement, the BTr said from end-December 2022’s P13.4 trillion level, the national government’s total outstanding debt increased by 2.1 percent due to the net availment of domestic and external debt.
Year-on-year, the national government’s outstanding debt rose by 13.9 percent from the P12.03 trillion recorded in January 2022.
Of the total debt stock, 31.5 percent was sourced externally while 68.5 percent were domestic borrowings.
The national government’s domestic debt amounted to P9.38 trillion, 1.9 percent higher compared to the end-December 2022 level of P9.21 trillion, which the BTr said was primarily due to net availment of domestic financing amounting to P179.16 billion, offsetting the P2.61 billion effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar on foreign denominated onshore securities.
The local debt also rose by 12.2 percent from the year ago level of P8.37 trillion.
Meanwhile, the national government’s external debt amounted to P4.31 trillion, 2.4 percent higher from the previous month’s P4.21 trillion.
“The increase in the national government’s external obligation for January was brought on by the P186.56 billion net availment of foreign loans and P10.36 billion impact of third-currency adjustments against the US dollar, the BTr said.
“However, peso appreciation reduced the peso value of foreign currency denominated debt by P93.84 billion,” it added.
Year-on-year, international debt rose 17.8 percent from January 2022’s P3.66 trillion.
