The national government’s total outstanding debt as of end-2021 stood at P11.73 trillion, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said yesterday.
The BTr said the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio registered at 60.5 percent, rising from 54.6 percent the prior year but “still within the accepted sustainable threshold” as the economy continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
According to the BTr, year-over-year growth registered at 19.7 percent from the P9.8 trillion recorded in end-2020.
“(The year-on-year growth is) lower than the 26.7 percent last year due to better fiscal performance and lower financing requirements,” the BTr said.
The total debt decreased by 1.7 percent from the previous month’s level of P11.93 trillion, “due to the net redemption of domestic securities.”
Of the total debt stock, 30.3 percent was sourced externally while 69.7 percent were domestic borrowings.
Broken down, the domestic debt amounted to P8.17 trillion, which is 22 percent higher from the year ago level of P6.69 trillion.
“(This is) in line with the domestic borrowing program which favors domestic issuance to mitigate foreign exchange risk and support local capital market development,” the BTr said.
The domestic debt, however, is 3.2 percent lower compared to the end-November 2021 level as the repayment of the P540 billion provisional advance from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas outpaced the net issuance of government securities, the BTr said.
Meanwhile, external debt amounted to P3.56 trillion as of end-2021, increasing by 14.8 percent from the year ago level of P3.1 trillion, of which 6.6 percent can be attributed to peso depreciation, the BTr said.
The foreign debt is also 1.9 percent higher from the end-November level of P3.49 trillion.
“For December, the increment in external debt was attributed to the impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar amounting to P40.87 billion and the net availment of external obligations amounting to P33.83 billion,” the BTr said.
“These more than offset the effects of adjustments in other foreign currencies amounting to P6.89 billion,” it added.
For end-2022, the national government has an outstanding debt program of P13.42 trillion. – Angela Celis
