Outstanding government debt climbed by more than P1.6 trillion, or 14.6 percent, in June to hit a record P12.79 trillion from P11.17 trillion a year ago as the government borrowed more to fund infrastructure projects and COVID response efforts, data from the Bureau of the Treasury.
The Treasury said the government debt also rose P296 billion, or 2.4 percent on a month-on-month basis from P12.49 trillion registered in May.
“The national government’s debt portfolio climbed by P296.06 billion or 2.4 percent in June due to the net issuances of domestic and external loans as well as currency adjustments. Of the total debt stock, 31.5 percent was sourced externally while 68.5 percent were domestic borrowings,” the Treasury said.
Domestic debt amounted to P8.77 trillion as of end-June, up by P101.66 billion or 1.2 percent from the end-May 2022 level.
“For the month, the increase in domestic debt was due to the net issuance of P96.30 billion in government securities and the P5.36 billion impact of local currency depreciation against the US dollar. From the end-December 2021 level, outstanding domestic debt has increased by P596.70 billion or 7.3 percent,” the Treasury said.
External debt amounted to P4.02 trillion, up by P194.40 billion or 5.1 percent from the May tally. The Treasury traced the increment in external debt to the impact of local currency depreciation against the US dollar amounting to P186.94 billion and the net availment of external financing amounting to P43.18 billion.
This offset the P35.72-billion effect of net depreciation against the US dollar on third-currency denominated obligations.
Broken down by composition, commercial loans accounted for 55.4 percent of total external debt, while multilateral and bilateral loans represented 34.2 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.
Total national government guaranteed obligations increased P14.21 billion or 3.6 percent month-on-month to P413.93 billion as of end-June.