The national government’s total outstanding debt as of end-February has breached the P15 trillion mark, amounting to P15.18 trillion.
In a statement, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported that the national government’s debt stock increased by 2.63 percent month-over-month, which was primarily attributed to domestic debt issuances, though partially tempered by the effect of the stronger peso on foreign debt valuation.
It also saw a year-on-year increase of 10.37 percent from end-February 2023’s P13.75 trillion.
Of the total debt stock, 30.32 percent is external debt while 69.68 percent is domestic debt.
For domestic debt, the end-February level of P10.58 trillion is 4.08 percent higher compared with the end-January level due to the net issuance of government securities.
“For the month, domestic debt gross issuance totaled P708.74 billion including the P584.86 billion five-year retail treasury bonds issuance. Meanwhile, principal payments amounted to P293.57 billion, resulting in a net issuance of P415.17 billion,” the BTr said.
“Peso appreciation trimmed P0.66 billion from domestic debt through downward revaluation of foreign currency denominated domestic debt,” it added.
The local debt saw an annual increase of 12.02 percent.
Meanwhile, the national government’s external debt of P4.6 trillion was 0.56 percent lower than the end-January 2024 level.
The BTr attributed the decrease to favorable foreign exchange movements by both local- and third-currencies against the US dollar amounting to P18.79 billion and P9.96 billion, respectively.
These more than offset the P2.75 billion net availment of foreign loans.
Year-on-year, foreign debt went up by 6.76 percent.
