Underspending has trimmed the government’s net borrowings from January to November 2014 to only P143.23 billion.
The P143.23-billion net borrowings
made as of November 2014 is P420.32 billion, or 75 percent, lower than the P563.55 billion in net borrowings made by the government for the same period in 2013.
The lower net borrowings is due to repayments and the underspending made by the government last year.
From January to November 2014, total
expenditures made by the government amounted to P1.76 trillion, only slightly higher than the P1.68 trillion in expenditures made by the government during the same 11-month period in 2013, despite the high growth in the government’s revenue collection.
Revenue collection as of November already totaled P1.73 trillion, much higher than the revenue collection for the comparable periods in 2013, which only amounted to P1.57 trillion.
This underspending in 2014 was one of the factors identified by the government’s economic managers which contributed to the slower growth in the gross domestic product, expected to settle at around 6 percent to 7 percent in 2014, lower than the growth target set by the government for last year, which was at the range of 6.5 percent to
7.5 percent.
Net external borrowings amounted only to P10.48 billion as of November due to net repayments and the lower dependence on foreign creditors in financing the government’s budgetary needs.
Net domestic borrowings, on the other hand, amounted to P132.74 billion, as the government shifts its dependence to domestic creditors to avoid foreign-exchange risks and other costs that come with borrowing money from abroad.