Philippine gov’t debt swells to fresh record-high P11.61 trillion as of end-July

Published August 31, 2021 07:20 PM By TED CORDERO,GMA News

The national government’s outstanding debt ballooned further to a new record-high of P11.61 trillion as of end-July 2021, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed Tuesday.

The government’s running debt stock as of end-July rose by 4% or by P443.43 billion from the end-June level of P11.166 trillion.

The Treasury attributed the increase to “peso depreciation and the net availment of both domestic and external debt.”

Year-on-year, the debt balance rose by 26.7% from P9.16 trillion as of end-July 2020.

Of the total debt stock, 30.1% were foreign borrowings while 69.9% were domestic borrowings.

Since the beginning of 2021, the total outstanding debt has grown by P1.82 trillion or 18.53%.

Finance Carlos Dominguez III earlier defended the uptick

in the country’s programmed debt which is expected to hit the internationally recommended threshold of 60% proportion of gross domestic product by 2022. 

“I would like to emphasize again that the increase in our debt level is only temporary. It did not stem from profligate public spending, but rather resulted from a universal shock that deteriorated the financial positions of almost all countries around the world,” Dominguez told a House budget deliberation on the proposed P5.024 trillion national budget for 2022.

In particular, the national government’s domestic debt or those sourced locally amounted to P8.12 trillion, up 2.3% compared to end-June level of P7.94 trillion “as a result of the net issuance of government securities.”

“Growth in domestic obligations amounts to P1.42 trillion or 21.28% from the beginning of the year owing the heightened financing requirements,” the BTr said.

External or foreign debt, meanwhile, stood at P3.49 trillion, up 8.2% from the P3.2 trillion recorded as of end-June.

“The net availment of foreign loans added P159.34 billion, including P146.17 billion from the issuance of USD Global Bonds,” the Treasury said.

“Meanwhile, the impact of both local and third currency exchange rate fluctuations against the US dollar added P100.66 billion and P3.39 billion, respectively,” it added.

The BTr noted that the Philippine peso depreciated against the US dollar from P48.704 as of end-June to P50.223 as of end-July.

The national government’s external debt has increased by P390.55 billion or 12.6% from the end-December 2020 level of P3.1 trillion.—LDF, GMA News

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