THE national government’s borrowings for the month of July amounted to P44.396 billion, higher by 212.45 percent compared to the P14.209 billion recorded in the same month last year, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.
Based on the latest data from the BTr, the government’s total gross borrowings for July amounted to P44.396 billion, with gross external borrowings accounting for P23.072 billion of the total for the month and domestic borrowings, P21.324.
Gross borrowings from offshore lenders for the month rose 1,853.6 percent compared to the P1.181 billion recorded in the July 2017, while gross borrowings from local lenders posted a 63.68-percent expansion compared to the previous year’s P13.028 billion.
External borrowings in the form of project loans amounted to P1.681 billion for the month, while program loans accounted for P21.391 billion of the total.
Borrowings in the form of Treasury bills formed the bulk of the gross domestic borrowings of the NG for the month with P21.324 billion.
This pushed the government’s total gross borrowings for the seven-month period to P505.256 billion, contracting by 2.83 percent coming from P519.969 billion in the same period for 2017.
From January to July this year, gross external borrowings increased to 27.43 percent amounting to P178.896 billion coming from P140.39 billion, while domestic gross borrowings contracted by 14.02 percent, reaching P326.361 billion, from P379.579 billion in the same period the previous year.
In July this year, the Development Budget Coordination Committee reported that, to ensure efficient borrowing, this year’s goal of sourcing 65 percent of loans from the domestic market and 35 percent from external sources will be modified.
As a result of that change, the government will now target 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.