T-bond issue boosts gov’t borrowing

GOVERNMENT borrowing rose sharply in April, driven by retail treasury bonds issued during that month, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) show.

“Funds borrowed by the national government were P206.47 billion in April, up by 636.43%” from a year earlier, the bureau said.

In the four months to April, borrowing hit P419.6 billion, up 74.14% from a year earlier.

The four- month total accounts for 66.47% of the P631.29 billion borrowing program for the year.

The government borrows to pay maturing debt and help finance its fiscal deficit, which is pegged at 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), or about P482.1 billion.

Funds from domestic sources took up 97.89% of the April financing portfolio at P201.37 billion, compared with P24.64 billion a year earlier.

Some P181.85 billion was raised from retail treasury bonds, P13.45 billion from Treasury bills, and P6.07 billion from Treasury bonds.

External creditors accounted for P5.1 billion that month, all from project loans, but up from P3.4 billion a year earlier.

The government reported last month that its outstanding debt hit P6.37 trillion at the end of April, up 8.3%.

At the Development Budget Coordination Committee meeting on Friday, economic managers said that they are keeping the current 80-20% borrowing mix in favor of domestic sources until 2022.

They expect the debt burden to fall to about 35-37% of GDP from 44.7% in 2015.