The national government’s outstanding debt breached the P16 trillion mark for the first time as of end-October, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
In a report released on Tuesday, the BTr said the total debt stock stood at P16.02 trillion as of October 2024, reflecting a 0.8 percent increase from the end-September 2024 level.
The agency said the increase was primarily driven by the valuation impact of the peso depreciation against the US dollar from P56.017 at end-September 2024 to P58.198 at end-October 2024.
Year-on-year, the outstanding debt rose by 10.6 percent from the P14.48 trillion recorded as of the same period in 2023.
The end-October domestic debt amounted to P10.89 trillion, which was actually 0.4 percent lower than the end-September 2024 level.
The BTr said the decline was primarily due by the P52.65 billion net redemption of government securities, partially offset by the P6.23 billion escalation in peso conversion of US dollar-denominated domestic debt brought about by the weakened peso.
The national government’s domestic debt has risen by 10 percent from the previous year’s level.
Meanwhile, the government’s external debt stood at P5.13 trillion, posting a 3.5 percent increase from the end-September 2024 level.
“The increase was driven by net foreign loan availments totaling P20.47 billion, as well as foreign exchange movements, which added P152.9 billion to external debt,” the BTr said.
“The impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar has increased external debt by P193 billion; however, this has been tempered by the P40.1 billion effect of favorable third-currency movements relative to the US dollar,” it added.
The external debt as of end-October saw a year-on-year increase of 12.1 percent.
