THE Philippines’s outstanding debt as of end-November 2022 rose by 14.35 percent on an annual basis to a fresh record high of P13.644 trillion, latest Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.
Treasury data showed that the national government’s (NG) total debt stock was P1.712 trillion higher than the P11.931 trillion outstanding debt recorded in November of 2021.
“For the month, NG’s total debt portfolio marginally increased by P3.15 billion or 0.02 percent from the end-October 2022 level primarily due to the effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar on foreign currency loans,” the BTr said in a statement on Tuesday.
“However, NG debt has increased by P1.92 trillion or 16.33 percent since end-December 2021,” it added.
The Treasury said the NG’s domestic debt has amounted to P9.43 trillion, P72.73 billion higher than the P9.355 trillion recorded in end-October 2022.
“For November, the net issuance of government securities added P75.76 billion while peso appreciation trimmed P3.03 billion from the debt stock,” it said.
“NG domestic debt comprises 69.1 percent of the total debt stock with a Year-to-Date increment of P1.26 trillion from its end-December 2021 level,” it added.
Meanwhile, the NG’s external debt reached P4.22 trillion, 1.62 percent lower than October 2022’s P4.285 trillion due to the P106.98 billion impact of local currency appreciation and P13.38 billion net repayment, according to the Treasury.
“This was tempered by the net impact of third-currency fluctuations against the US dollar amounting to P50.78 billion. NG external debt comprised 30.90 percent of the total debt portfolio,” it said.
“From end-December 2021 level, NG external debt has increased by P658.07 billion or 18.49 percent,” it added.
The Treasury said the NG’s guaranteed obligations as of end-November 2022 increased by P1.47 billion to P388 billion from P386.53 billion in end-October 2022. However, the guaranteed obligations during the reference period was 7.14 percent lower than the P417.85 billion recorded in November 2021, based on BTr data.
“For November, the higher level of guaranteed debt was due to the net availment of domestic guarantees amounting to P1.03 billion and the net effect of currency fluctuations that increased the value of external guarantees by P0.44 billion,” the Treasury said.
“From the end-December 2021 level, total NG guaranteed debt is still lower by P35.92 billion or 8.47 percent,” it added.