The Bureau of the Treasury said over the weekend government’s gross borrowings dropped 67.6 percent in January this year from a year ago.
The Treasury’s latest cash operations report showed that gross borrowings in the first month of the year reached P118.47 billion, down from P366 billion in the same month last year.
Gross domestic debt fell 21.12 percent in January to P141.50 billion from P179.30 billion a year earlier. Broken down, the BTr raised P130 billion from fixed-rate Treasury bonds and P11.501 billion from Treasury bills.
Meanwhile, the gross external debt went down by 67.13 percent to P61.65 billion in January from P187.56 billion a year earlier. Of the total, project loans amounted to P5.34 billion and program loans, P56.29 billion.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto earlier said the country’s total financing requirement for the year would amount to P2.46 trillion, and the government would continue to adopt a 75:25 borrowing mix in favor of domestic sources.
This prudent debt management strategy will allow the country to effectively mitigate foreign exchange risks, take advantage of the abundant liquidity in the country’s financial system and support the development of the local debt and capital markets, he said.
The BTr is looking at various global bond markets, consistent with its objective of diversifying funding sources to fulfill its 2024 external financing program. It is also exploring a potential curtain-raiser offering in the first semester of the year.
The BTr earlier raised a total of P584.86 billion from the issuance of the 30th tranche of retail treasury bonds (RTBs).
It raised P870 billion in 2023 despite the challenging market environment, including P1.65 trillion sourced from the issuance of domestic treasury bills and government securities and P220 billion from external commercial sources.
The funds raised by the BTr represented 85 percent of the gross financing requirement of the national government.