The national government’s gross borrowings as of end-May rose by 17 percent due to higher domestic borrowings versus last year, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to the latest cash operations report posted on the BTr website, the government’s gross borrowings totaled to P1.77 trillion, up versus the P1.51 trillion raised a year ago.
Gross domestic borrowings accounted for a large chunk amounting to P1.51 trillion, 31.23 percent up from the year ago level of P1.15 trillion.
Of the said amount, P463.32 billion came from the retail treasury bonds (RTBs) issued in March.
The total issue size of the three-year RTBs consisted of P411.8 billion in new subscriptions and P51.5 billion more from the bond exchange program.
Meanwhile, P540 billion was accounted for by the reavailment of the short-term loan facility from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in January.
This is the second time the BSP has extended a P540 billion provisional advance to the government, with the first one approved in October last year.
At the onset of the lockdown measures imposed in March 2020 to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the BSP also lent P300 billion to the national government under a repurchase agreement.
Of the total domestic borrowings in January to May, P389 billion was in the form of fixed-rate treasury bonds, while P120.31 billion was from the issuance of treasury bills.
The BTr data also showed that gross external borrowings for the period declined 29.05 percent to P253.04 billion from P356.64 billion a year ago.
Project loans totaled to P34.76 billion while P72.12 billion was from program loans.
The Philippine government also raised P121.97 billion from euro bonds and P24.19 billion from its samurai bonds issuances, both in April.
In May alone, total gross borrowings amounted to P112.19 billion, 61.3 percent down from the P289.82 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.
Of the said amount, P104.4 billion was from local lenders while P7.79 billion was from offshore financing. – Angela Celis
