MANILA – Total liabilities of the national government (NG) rose by a percent to PHP13.02 trillion as of end-August 2022 due to domestic securities issuance and currency adjustments, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Friday.
In a statement Friday, the BTr said the latest debt level of the government is higher by 11 percent or PHP1.29 trillion compared to the end-2021 level.
Bulk or 68.7 percent of the liabilities is accounted for by those sourced from domestic creditors while the balance of 31.3 percent was sourced from overseas.
Total domestic debt as of the eighth month this year reached PHP8.94 trillion, which is PHP111.21 billion higher than at the end of the previous month.
The BTr traced the jump in the domestic liabilities last August to net issuance of PHP109.43 billion worth of government securities and the PHP1.78 billion impact of weakening of the peso against the US dollar.
“Since the beginning of the year, domestic debt portfolio has increased by PHP772.98 billion or 9.5 percent due to continued reliance on domestic borrowing to lessen the impact of currency fluctuations,” it said.
The external debt as of end-August this year reached PHP4.08 trillion, up by PHP22.43 billion compared to the end-July 2022 level.
The BTr attributed the increase in foreign currency-denominated liabilities to the impact of weaker peso, which amounted to PHP62.24 billion.
“This offsets the PHP26.59 billion effect of third-currency depreciation against the USD and net repayment amounting to P13.22 billion,” it said.
Since the start of the year, external liabilities rose by PHP520.03 billion compared to the end-2021 level “primarily due to local- and third-currency fluctuations that increase the peso value of foreign-denominated obligations.”
Similarly, total NG guaranteed obligations as of end-August this year reached PHP392.76 billion, lower by PHP15.24 billion compared to the end-July 2022 level.
“For August, the decrease in guaranteed debt was primarily due to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to PHP4.43 billion and PHP10.81 billion, respectively,” BTr said.
Impact of net appreciation on third currency-denominated guarantees went down by PHP3.65 billion “offsetting the PHP3.40 billion effect of local currency depreciation.”
Compared to the end-2021 level, NG guaranteed debt slipped by PHP31.16 billion or 7.4 percent, BTr added. (PNA)
