Govt debt up 6.7% at P6.38 T in July

NATIONAL government debt rose to P6.38 trillion in July as the peso continued to trade weaker against the dollar, the Bureau of the Treasury said late on Thursday.

Domestic borrowings accounted for 65 percent or P4.14 trillion of total debt, while 35 percent or P2.23 trillion was owed to foreign creditors.

Domestic debt grew by 7.5 percent from P3.85 trillion year-on-year while foreign obligations rose by 5.3 percent from P2.12 trillion.

The country’s foreign loans were computed at an exchange rate of P50.50 to a dollar. It was at P47.09:$1 a year earlier.

Down from June

Month-on-month, the national government’s outstanding debt was down by P31.78 billion or 0.5 percent in July.

Domestic debt fell by P40.01 billion or 1 percent as “net redemption of government securities worth P40.04 billion lowered the domestic debt level for the month,” the treasury bureau noted.

External debt slightly increased by P8.23 billion or 0.4 percent. The Treasury said this component was

predominantly driven by foreign exchange fluctuations on both peso- and third currencydenominated debts, which raised the peso values by P2.34 billion and P6.72 billion respectively.

Govt-guaranteed debt

Debts guaranteed by the national government, meanwhile, were down 12 percent at P495 billion from P562 billion.

Month-on-month, governmentguaranteed debt rose to P1.95 billion or by 0.4 percent due to the combined effects of the peso’s depreciation and third currency revaluation on government guarantees.

“These more than offset the effect of net repayments on both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P0.48 billion and P0.37 billion, respectively,” the Treasury said.