Internal debt likely to exceed 75% of nat'l debt in 2013 — Treasurer

The government expects that more than 75 percent of the funds it will borrow in 2013 will come from domestic creditors, said National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon. This would tip the expected internal-external ratio even more towards domestic creditors than the government’s original plan of a 75-25 borrowing mix for next year. However, De Leon noted that as of end-September, the ratio of domestic to foreign borrowing was already at 84 percent to 16 percent. In 2011, internal debt made up 65 percent of the national debt, one percent higher than the previous year’s. Actual gross borrowings reached P601.4 billion as of end-September this year, a 56.3-percent increase year-on-year. Of this amount, P503.61 billion was borrowed from domestic creditors, and largely in fixed-rate retail treasury bonds. It is the government's goal to decrease foreign borrowing to cushion the country against foreign currency fluctuations. — BM, GMA News