THE Philippines has an outstanding debt of P12.68 trillion as of March 2022, the Bureau of Treasury said on Thursday, May 5, 2022.
It said that for the month of March, P586.29 billion or 4.8 percent of the total debt portfolio of the national government was added due to the net issuance of government securities to both local and external lenders.
The bureau said that 30.1 percent of the total debt stock was sourced externally, while 69.9 percent were domestic borrowings.
The National Government’s domestic debt amounted to P8.87 trillion, which is P455.45 billion or 5.4 percent higher compared to the end of February 2022 level, while the external debt of P3.81 trillion was higher by P130.84 billion or 3.6 percent.
It said the increase of external debts was due to the net availment of external financing valued at P122.69 billion, which includes the P117.33-billion triple tranche five-year, 10.5-year and 25-year Global bonds.
“For March, the National Government successfully raised P457.80 billion through its domestic retail treasury bond issuance and debt exchange transaction. From the end-December 2021 level, outstanding domestic debt has increased by P698.24 billion of 8.5 percent,” it said.
The treasury department said the effect of Peso depreciation against US dollar added P37.31 billion, which was tampered by adjustments in third currencies, which trimmed P29.17 billion.
The third currency exchange rate fluctuation further lowered the value of the Philippine peso in terms of external guarantees by P5.16 billion, off-setting the P2.31 billion effect of local currency diminish against the US dollar.
“The total guaranteed obligations of the National Government decreased by P5.16 billion or 1.2 percent month-over-month to P411.04 billion as of end-March 2022,” it said.
“The lower level of guaranteed debt was due to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P0.76 billion and P1.55 billion, respectively,” it added. (SunStar Philippines)