The national government’s total outstanding debt rose to P13.91 trillion as of end-April 2023, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.
The BTr said the government’s outstanding debt increased by 0.4 percent from the previous month due to the net issuance of external debt and local currency depreciation against the dollar.
The outstanding debt likewise rose from the previous year’s level by nine percent.
Of the total debt stock, 32 percent was sourced externally while 68 percent were domestic borrowings.
The government’s domestic debt amounted to P9.46 trillion, 0.6 percent lower compared to the end-March 2023 level due to the net redemption of domestic securities amounting to P57.79 billion, the BTr said.
This was slightly offset by the P2.47 billion effect on onshore foreign currency-denominated securities caused by peso depreciation against the dollar.
The local debt figure, however, increased by 5.8 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, external debt amounted to P4.45 trillion, 2.5 percent higher from the previous month.
“For April, the increment to external debt was due to the P27.98 billion net availment of external loans and P94.28 billion impact of local-currency depreciation against the US dollar,” the BTr said.
“On the other hand, third-currency adjustments against the US dollar trimmed P12.30 billion from the peso value of foreign currency debt,” it added.
Compared to the previous year’s level, the government’s foreign debt surged by 16.4 percent.
