THE national government’s total gross borrowings from January to September declined by 28.25 percent on an annual basis to P1.867 trillion, latest Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.
The end-September total borrowings was P735.33 billion lower than the P2.6 trillion recorded in the same period of last year.
The 9-month gross borrowings is nearly 85 percent of the P2.2-trillion total borrowing target set by the national government this year.
BTr data showed that the bulk of the amount borrowed by the national government as of end-September consisted of gross domestic borrowings that reached P1.521 trillion.
The amount was 27.41 percent lower than the P2.096 trillion recorded during the 9-month period of 2021.
The lion’s share of gross domestic borrowings during the reference period came from Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds at P930.382 billion, followed by Retail Treasury Bonds at P878.248 billion.
There was also a net debt redemption on Treasury Bills amounting to P287.058 billion, as more debts were repaid than borrowed.
Data from the BTr also showed that gross foreign borrowings in the January-to-September period declined 31.72 percent to P345.959 billion from P506.665 billion recorded in the same period of last year.
Of the total gross foreign borrowings, program loans and multi-tranche dollar-denominated global bonds amounted to P136.6 billion and P117.326 billion, respectively.
The remaining amount was borrowed through a project loan (P63.477 billion) and through the issuance of yen-denominated Samurai bonds (P28.552 billion).
For September alone, the national government borrowed P488.643 billion, more than double the P215.106 billion recorded amount last year, driven by higher gross domestic borrowings, based on BTr data.
Gross domestic borrowings in September rose by nearly triple year-on-year to P480.478 billion while gross foreign borrowings plunged by 83 percent on an annual basis to P8.165 billion, BTr data showed.
The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s outstanding debt as of end-August reached a new record level of P13.02 trillion.
The national government’s outstanding debt was P133.64 billion or a percent higher than the P12.89-trillion debt recorded in July.
The national government’s outstanding debt at end-August of last year was at P11.64 trillion.
“The P133.64 billion or 1.0 percent increment from the end-July 2022 level was attributed to the net issuances of domestic securities as well as currency adjustments,” the BTr said in an earlier statement.
“At the current level, [national government’s] debt has increased by P1.29 trillion or 11.0 percent since end-December 2021, of which 68.7 percent was domestic borrowings while 31.3 percent was sourced externally,” it added.