The national government’s outstanding debt has amounted to P10.41 trillion as of end-February, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
The BTr said in a statement yesterday the 0.8 percent increase from the end-January level of P10.33 trillion was due to net financing from local and external sources and currency fluctuations.
The outstanding debt also posted a double-digit jump of 27.4 percent from the end-February 2020 level of P8.17 trillion, as the national government had to boost its borrowings since then to fund its coronavirus disease 2019 response.
Of the total debt stock, 29 percent were sourced externally while 71 percent are domestic borrowings.
The national government’s domestic debt amounted to P7.36 trillion, 0.5 percent higher compared to the end-January level of P7.33 trillion, which the BTr said was primarily due to net availment of domestic financing.
The local debt also rose by 35.1 percent from the year ago level of P5.45 trillion.
The national government’s external debt of P3.04 trillion was 1.4 percent higher from the previous month’s P3 trillion.
“For February, the increment to external debt was due to the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P14.53 billion and the P36.03 billion effect of local currency depreciation against the dollar,” the BTr said.
“Meanwhile, the net appreciation of the peso against third currencies trimmed P9.70 billion,” it added.
Foreign debt also posted a double-digit increase of 12 percent from the end-February 2020 level of P2.72 trillion.