THE national government (NG) borrowed P110 billion from domestic and foreign creditors in March.

The gross borrowings reflect a 3-percent jump from February that pushed the nation’s total debts to P3.881 trillion. This is P50 billion, or 1.3 percent lower from the level a year earlier.

The numbers validate Finance Secretary Maragrito Teves’s claim that the government’s penchant for borrowing has eased since 2006.

“Total outstanding debt stood at P3.881 trillion, of which P1.595 trillion, or 41 percent, is owed to foreign creditors and P2.286 trillion or 59 percent to domestic creditors,” the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement.

Data show domestic debts rose 1.6 percent, or P36 billion from February to P2.286 trillion in March as the NG sold more IOUs than it redeemed during the month.

Its foreign-currency debt also rose nearly 5 percent, or P74 billion to P1.597 trillion.

It is also a 9.1-percent drop from P1.753 trillion in foreign debt a year earlier.

The DOF traced the lower foreign- currency debt to a P27-billion net depreciation of third currency IOUs relative to the US dollar, as well as a P49 billion in depreciation of the peso against the US dollar.

Their combined expansionary impact on the NG’s debt load was offset in part by net repayments totaling P2 billion during the month, the DOF said.

The bulk, or 89 percent, of the NG’s foreign debt was in US dollar bonds or notes. The rest were either in Japanese yen or the European Union’s euro.

Contingent debt, or those incurred and guaranteed by the NG, also fell by 6.7 percent from the year earlier level of P557.2 billion to P519.6 billion.

Contingent domestic debt rose 1.1 percent month-on-month to P72.9 billion, and contingent foreign debt dropped by 7.9 percent to P446.7 billion from P485.1 billion.

In 2000 NG debts grew by 22 percent and have fallen significantly since then as the government’s fiscal consolidation program gained more traction.

However, the recent decision to temporarily abandon that same program in order to address social issues created by rising food and oil prices have elicited commitment issues on the part of the government.

Analysts from the Swiss financial- services provider UBS said Manila could safely incur a deficit up to a percentage point of its gross domestic output this year.

THE investment-hungry Chinese that eyed Asia Trust Bank as a possible buy have shifted sights on the larger Philippine Bank of Communications.

THE national government (NG) borrowed P110 billion from domestic and foreign creditors in March.

The gross borrowings reflect a 3-percent jump from February that pushed the nation’s total debts to P3.881 trillion. This is P50 billion, or 1.3 percent lower from the level a year earlier.

THE Philippine National Bank (PNB) is offering P3 billion worth of lower Tier 2 notes to refinance its existing lower Tier 2 notes callable in February 2009, the bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange late Tuesday.

THE average rate for 364-day Treasury bills yesterday fell 5.6 basis points to 6.79 percent in what the Bureau of Treasury said was a correction in the market and rise in demand.