DATA from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the government borrowed more overseas in August at P134.049 billion, 118.6 percent higher than the P61.309-billion gross borrowings of the national government (NG) in the same month last year.
Gross borrowings from offshore financial institutions for August amounted to P75.853 billion while domestic borrowings reached P58.196 billion.
Overseas borrowing was 432.5 percent higher than the P14.244 billion the NG borrowed in the same month last year. Local borrowings in August was also 25.1 percent higher; local borrowings only hit P47.065 billion in the same month last year.
The government’s financing measures for the month of August reached P134.049 billion, pushing the total gross borrowings from January to August this year to P639.305 billion.
The eight-month total also posted an increase of 9.9 percent compared to the recorded P581.278 billion in the same period last year.
Under external borrowings for the month, Samurai bonds took the biggest chunk with P74.040 billion while projects loans amounted to P1.813 billion.
Gross borrowings made by the government from local financial institutions for the month came in the form of fixed-rate Treasury bonds with P30 billion and Treasury bills with P28.196 billion.
From January to August, the NG’s external borrowings has reached P254.748 billion, increasing by 64.7 percent from the P154.634 billion made in 2017, while domestic borrowings amounted to P384.557 billion, contracting by 9.8 percent compared to last year’s P426.644 billion.
In July the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said this year’s goal of sourcing 65 percent of loans from the domestic market and 35 percent from external sources will be modified so that the government will now be targeting the proportion of domestic borrowing to increase to 75 percent, which will reduce the percentage of external financing in the mix to 25 percent in 2019.