THE national debt has increased to P13.02 trillion as of the end of August, according to the latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The BTr said this was P133.64 billion or 1 percent higher than the July 2022 level. The increase was driven by domestic securities issuances and currency adjustments.
Compared to the debt as of December 2021, BTr said the national government’s debt increased P1.29 trillion, or an 11-percent growth. The bulk or 68.7 percent was domestic borrowings and 31.3 percent was sourced externally.
The national government’s (NG) domestic debt amounted to P8.94 trillion, which is P111.21 billion or 1.3 percent higher compared to the end-July 2022 level.
In August, the BTr said the increase in domestic debt resulted from the net issuance of government securities amounting to P109.43 billion and the P1.78 billion impact of local currency depreciation against the US dollar.
Since the beginning of the year, BTr said the domestic debt portfolio has increased by P772.98 billion or 9.5 percent on the back of domestic borrowing to lessen the impact of currency fluctuations.
NG external debt amounted to P4.08 trillion, which is P22.43 billion or 0.6 percent higher than the end-July 2022 level. For August, the increment in the level of external debt was due to the impact of local currency depreciation against the US dollar amounting to P62.24 billion.
This offsets the P26.59-billion effect of third-currency depreciation against the US dollar and net repayment amounting to P13.22 billion. Year-to-date, NG external debt increased by P520.03 billion or 14.6 percent from end-December 2021, primarily due to local- and third-currency fluctuations that increase the peso value of foreign denominated obligations.
Total NG guaranteed obligations decreased by P15.24 billion or 3.7 percent month-over-month to P392.76 billion as of end-August 2022. For August, the decrease in guaranteed debt was primarily due to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P4.43 billion and P10.81 billion, respectively.
Meanwhile, the impact of net appreciation on third currency-dominated guarantees was further trimmed P3.65 billion, offsetting the P3.4 -illion effect of local currency depreciation. From the end-December 2021 level, total NG guaranteed debt has decreased by P31.16 billion or 7.4 percent.
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