External debt P5.17T
Philippine government debt expanded by P70.7 billion in November to P16.09 trillion, or by 0.4 percent from the prior month, as more local financing was tapped and the peso depreciation against the dollar boosted the value of the country’s overseas debt.
The Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement domestic securities accounted for 67.87 percent of the total debt stock, while 32.13 percent represented the country’s overseas obligations.
The November domestic debt was recorded at P10.92 trillion, up 0.3 percent or P31.82 billion from the end-October 2024 level.
The DOF said it raised P30.67 billion in new local borrowings for the month. The depreciation of the peso, meanwhile, added P1.15 billion more into the value of the government’s dollar-denominated domestic debt, it said.
External debt grew P38.88 billion to P5.17 trillion, or by 0.8 percent from end-October.
“The significant depreciation of the peso led to a P35.61 billion escalation in the local valuation of dollar-denominated debt, while net foreign loan availments added P8.33 billion,” the DOF said in the statement.
External debt includes third currency valuation, which accounts for the difference in impact of the dollar depreciation on the domestically-issued dollar debt and external debt. “Our foreign currency denominated debt are not only in USD. We also have it in JPY (yen), euro and other currencies…,” a DOF official explained.
The November national government debt report disaggregated the effects on the valuation of the peso depreciation against the US dollar into domestic debt component (P1.15 billion) and external debt component (P35.61 billion). The domestic component is from USD denominated securities issued domestically in the form of various RDBs with an outstanding amount of $2.85 billion. The foreign component is from US dollar-denominated external debt amounting to $71.41 billion, comprising 80.95 percent of total external debt, the official added.
