Total liabilities of the national government (NG) rose by a percent to P13.02 trillion as of end-August 2022 due to domestic securities issuance and currency adjustments, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.
In a statement, the BTr said the latest debt level of the government is higher by 11 percent or P1.29 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 P111.21 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 P109.43 billion worth of government securities and the P1.78 billion impact of weakening of the peso against the US dollar.
“Since the beginning of the year, domestic debt portfolio has increased by P772.98 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 P4.08 trillion, up by P22.43 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 P62.24 billion.
“This offsets the P26.59 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 P520.03 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 P392.76 billion, lower by P15.24 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 P4.43 billion and P10.81 billion, respectively,” BTr said.
Impact of net appreciation on third currency-denominated guarantees went down by P3.65 billion “offsetting the P3.40 billion effect of local currency depreciation.”
Compared to the end-2021 level, NG guaranteed debt slipped by P31.16 billion or 7.4 percent, BTr added.*PNA
