THE national government’s outstanding debt as of end-January this year rose by 3.6 percent to P7.76 trillion, from P7.49 trillion in the same month in 2019.
Data from the Bureau of the Treasury released on Monday showed the year-on-year spike in outstanding debt on the back of the increase in both domestic and external debt.
Domestic debt surged by 4.4 percent to reach P5.12 trillion, from P4.91 trillion in the first month of 2019. Meanwhile, external debt also jumped to P2.64 trillion, posting a 2.1-percent increase from P2.58 trillion.
Compared to end-December 2019 level, the level of national government debt as of January this year reflected a 0.4-percent increment or P32.06-billion increase predominantly due to net availment of foreign financing.
Of the total debt stock, 34 percent was sourced externally while 66 percent represented domestic debt.
Domestic debt amounted to P5.12 trillion, lower by 0.1 percent or P3.83 billion from the end-December 2019 level of P5.13 trillion.
On the other hand, the national government’s external debt in January was recorded at P2.64 trillion, which is 1.4 percent or P35.89 billion from P2.60 trillion the previous month.
According to the BTr, the increase in external debt was caused by the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P33.51 billion and the P2.72 billion effect of local currency depreciation on dollar-denominated debt.
Total outstanding guaranteed obligations by the national government also slightly decreased by P0.45 billion or a 0.1 percent month-over-month to P488.29 billion in January.
The lower level of guarantees was due to the net redemption of both local and foreign guarantees amounting to P0.46 billion and P0.39 billion, respectively. This was tempered by local and third-currency exchange rate fluctuations that increased the value of external guarantees by P0.24 billion and P0.16 billion, respectively.
For this year, the government has programmed debt to GDP ratio to be steady at 41.4 percent.