The national government’s gross borrowings in January to August rose by 17.36 percent year-on-year as domestic financing registered a double-digit increase.

According to the latest cash operations report posted on the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) website, the government’s gross borrowings in the first eight months of the year jumped to P1.93 trillion from the P1.65 trillion recorded a year ago.

Gross domestic borrowings for the period accounted for the bigger chunk amounting to P1.65 trillion, up 31.78 percent from the year ago level of P1.25 trillion.

Of the said amount, P904.21 billion is in fixed rate treasury bonds, while P161.7 billion was accounted for by treasury bills.

Also, P584.86 billion was raised in February through the retail treasury bonds offer.

Meanwhile, the BTr data showed that gross external borrowings for the period fell by 28.41 percent to P282.46 billion from P394.56 billion a year ago.

Project loans totaled to P66.72 billion while P100.5 billion was from program loans.

The government also raised P115.25 billion from its dual-tranche global dollar bond offering in May.

For the month alone, the government recorded gross financing of P174.03 billion, 40.29 percent up from the year ago level of P124.06 billion.

Gross domestic borrowings amounted to P167.05 billion while foreign borrowings stood at P6.99 billion.

The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s budget deficit narrowed in August as government spending inched down year-on-year.

According to the latest cash operations report, the national government incurred a P54.2 billion budget deficit in August 2024, lower by 59.24 percent or P78.8 billion compared with the P133 billion shortfall incurred a year ago. 

The government saw a lower budget deficit for the month amid the 24.4 percent growth in government revenues, while expenditures saw a 0.68 percent contraction. 

This trimmed the year-to-date budget deficit of P697 billion by 4.86 percent from the P732.5 billion budget gap in the previous year, equivalent to 46.95 percent of the P1.5 trillion full-year program for 2024.