THE Philippine government aims to raise P200 billion from debt papers in October, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The amount covers P60-billion worth of Treasury bills and P140 billion-worth of Treasury bonds to be auctioned off next month.
The borrowing program is the same throughout the year except for June and March when the borrowing program reached P235 billion. The program set for October 2021 was also at P155 billion.
“[The] program is calibrated to meet NG [national government]funding requirements against (the) current market backdrop,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters last Wednesday.
Based on the borrowing program for October, the BTr said the government aims to raise P15 billion from 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills on each auction date set for October 5, October 12, October 19 and October 26.
In terms of bonds, the government aims to raise P35 billion each from 3-year bonds to be auctioned on October 6 and 6-year bonds on October 13.
The BTr said the same amounts will be raised for 10-year bonds on October 20 and 13-year bonds on October 27.
This year, the government is set to borrow a total of P2.21 trillion, of which 75 percent will be sourced locally while the remaining 25 percent will come from foreign sources.
As of end-July this year, the national government’s outstanding debt has soared to a new record-high of P12.89 trillion, an increase of P96.09 billion or 0.8 percent during the first month of the Marcos administration from P12.79 trillion as of end-June.
The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio slightly eased to 62.1 percent in the second quarter of the year from 63.5 percent in the first quarter. However, this remained above the internationally-recommended 60-percent threshold for a healthy economy.