THE national government’s outstanding debt eased to P7.90 trillion in September, dragged by the movements of local currency and net repayment of external and domestic loans, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Monday.
In a statement, the Treasury bureau said the amount was a 0.4-percent or P31.39-billion decrease from August’s record-high P7.93 trillion.
“Of the total stock, 33.51 percent were sourced from external markets while 66.49 percent were borrowed domestically,” it added.
Domestic borrowings totalling P5.25 trillion — down 0.3 percent from the August amount — accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt, while external debt declined by 0.6 percent to P2.64 trillion.
Outstanding debt the year before stood at P7.15 trillion, with domestic and foreign obligations at P4.58 trillion and P2.57 trillion, respectively.
“For the month, the lower level of domestic debt was due to the combined net redemption of government securities amounting to P14.37 billion and P0.17 billion effect of peso appreciation on onshore dollar bonds,” the BTr explained.
It noted that the peso appreciated against the US dollar from P52.12 as of end-August to P51.79 as of end-September 2019.
Meanwhile, the BTr attributed the decline in external debt to local and third-currency fluctuations, which decreased the value of foreign debt by P17.09 billion and P7.80 billion, respectively.
A foreign-exchange rate of P51.79 against the dollar was used for the latest data, compared with August’s P52.12:$1. The exchange rate used a year earlier was P54.10:$1.
“These offset the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P8.03 billion for the period,” the Treasury bureau added.
Government guaranteed debt, meanwhile, eased from August by 1.2 percent or P5.84 billion to P484.42 billion in September. It was up 0.6 percent from the year-ago figure.
The month-on-month decline, the Treasury bureau said, “was due to the net effect of local and third-currency fluctuations that decreased the value of external guarantees by P1.54 billion and P1.57 billion, respectively.”
It added that net repayment of domestic and external guarantees amounted to P280 million and P1.57 billion, respectively.
