The national government’s outstanding debt reached P10.99 trillion as of end-April, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said yesterday.
In a statement, the BTr said the national government’s total debt portfolio rose by two percent from the end-March 2021 level of P10.77 trillion due to the net availment of both local and external financing.
It also went up by 27.8 percent from April 2020’s P8.6 trillion, and 12.2 percent year-to-date, as the government tapped various sources of funding for its coronavirus pandemic response.
Of the total debt stock, 28.9 percent was sourced externally while 71.1 percent is domestic borrowings.
The national government’s domestic debt amounted to P7.81 trillion, 0.9 percent higher compared to the end-March 2021 level of P7.74 trillion, which the BTr said was primarily due to the net issuance of government securities.
From the end-2020 level of P6.69 trillion, outstanding domestic debt has increased by 16.7 percent, while it surged by 33.2 percent from end of April 2020’s P5.86 trillion.
Meanwhile, the national government’s external debt of P3.18 trillion was 4.9 percent higher from the previous month’s level of P3.03 trillion.
“For April, the increment to external debt was due to the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P163.01 billion including P146.16 billion from the issuance of global bonds,” the BTr said.
“Further adjustments include the impact of third-currency appreciation against the US dollar which added P10.91 billion while local-currency appreciation trimmed P24.21 billion,” it added.
From the end-December 2020 level of P3.1 trillion, external debt has increased by 2.5 percent, while it also posted a 16.2 percent hike from the end-April 2020 level of P2.74 trillion. – Angela Celis
