PHL govt debt up 4.6% to P5.31T as of end-April — Treasury data

Outstanding debt of the Philippine government reached P5.31 trillion in April, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, largely on borrowings from domestic lenders, Bureau of Treasury data released Friday showed.

 

Around 65 percent or P3.44 trillion of sovereign obligations were owed to domestic creditors and 35 percent or P1.87 trillion were accounted for by foreign lenders.

 

Domestic borrowings largely grew by 14 percent on the P32.6 billion net issuance of government securities and the P200 million net impact on multicurrency retail treasury bonds in US dollars and the  euro's appreciation.

 

Government's obligations to foreign creditors, however, declined by 9 percent mainly on foreign exchange rate adjustments. A net depreciation of third currencies against the US dollar shrunk the peso value of government's foreign debt by P11.1 billion.

 

The decline, however, was partly offset by the peso's depreciation to the tune of P4.6 billion and P600 million in additional debt, including a P500 million adjustment covering the late receipts of foreign debts.

 

A 65:35 domestic-to-foreign debt ratio reflects government strategy of dipping into the high level of liquidity in the local market while capping foreign borrowings.

 

Government guaranteed foreign debt also slipped to P475 billion as of end-April from P480 billion as of end-March, with P800 million in net repayments and third currency depreciation against the US dollar which cut by P5.2 billion the value of foreign debts guaranteed.

 

The peso depreciation against the US dollar also tempered the decline by P800 million with an P300 million adjustment on the late receipt of availments, the Treasury Bureau noted. Domestic debt guaranteed was unchanged during the period, it added. — VS, GMA News