Gross borrowings plunge by over half in Jan

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THE national government’s gross borrowings for January this year plunged to over P203 billion, declining by more than half compared to a year ago due to downticks in external and domestic borrowings.

Latest data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTR) showed the national government’s total borrowings in January 2024 dipped to P203.151 billion, P163.712 billion lower than the P366.863-billion borrowings recorded in the same month last year.

The decline in gross borrowings was due to the double-digit contraction in domestic borrowings, outpacing the 22-percent hike in external gross borrowings, based on Treasury data.

Broken down, the bulk of the gross borrowings in January came from domestic sources at 30.34 percent while the remaining financing at 69.66 percent was borrowed externally, Treasury data indicated.

The state’s gross domestic borrowings in January decreased to P141.505 billion from P179 billion last year due to lower sales of the Treasury bills (T-bills) and fixed-rate Treasury bonds, based on Treasury data.

The state borrowed P130.000 billion through the sale of fixedrate Treasury bonds, about 19.59 percent lower than the P161.675 billion amount it generated in January last year, Treasury data showed.

The national government’s net Treasury bills reached P11.505 billion compared to the P17.625billion net redemption in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, Treasury data showed that the national government’s external gross borrowings in January plunged by more than half to P61.646 billion, down by 67.13 percent from the P187.563 billion it recorded in the same month last year.

The dip in external gross borrowings in January was attributed to higher payments as well as the absence of global bonds compared to last year, according to Treasury’s data.

The national government recorded P84.539 billion in payments in January this year, which led to the contraction of net external borrowings to P22.893 billion.

The state did not borrow through the sale of global bonds in January, but raised P163.607 billion from such tender last year, based on Treasury data.

The state’s external borrowings through project loans decreased by 6.76 percent to P5.348 billion from P5.736 billion last year.

The state’s borrowing through program loans in January posted a triple-digit increase by 208.99 percent to P56.298 billion from the P18.220 billion recorded in the previous year, based on Treasury data.

Last year, the national government’s total borrowings recorded a single-digit growth at 1.38 percent on an annual basis to P2.193 trillion due to a narrower budget deficit posted in 2023.

The country’s borrowings from the domestic debt market through the sale of Treasury bills (T-bills) and Treasury bonds (Tbonds) declined to P1.634 trillion in 2023, down by 0.54 percent from the P1.643 trillion recorded in 2022.

In terms of external borrowings, the national government borrowed a total of P559.035 billion in 2023, 6.97 percent higher than the P520.091 billion recorded in 2022, Treasury data showed.

This year, the national government targets to borrow P2.202 trillion to secure financing, based on government data.

The government’s target borrowings were anchored on a 75:25 mix, wherein 75 percent of the amount would come from the local debt market while the remaining quarter would be borrowed externally.