Govt debt eases to P7.78T in April
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 16:20:55 +0000
THE national government’s outstanding debt eased to P7.786 trillion in April as the peso strengthened during the month, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Thursday.
In a statement, the Treasury bureau said the amount was a 0.2-percent or P15.447-billion decrease from March’s P7.802 trillion.
“Of the total stock, 33.2 percent were sourced from external markets, while 66.8 percent were owed to domestic creditors,” it added.
Domestic borrowings totaling P5.205 trillion — up 0.2 percent from the previous month — accounted for the bulk, while external debt fell by 0.9 percent to P2.581 trillion.
Outstanding debt the year before stood at P6.874 trillion, with domestic and foreign obligations at P4.498 trillion and P2.375 trillion, respectively.
“For April, net issuance of government securities amounting to P8.82 billion brought the increase in the level of domestic portfolio, while P0.27 billion was trimmed due to [the] revaluation of onshore dollar bonds due to peso appreciation,” the Treasury said.
A foreign exchange rate of P52.098 against the dollar was used for the latest data, up from March’s P52.629:$1. The exchange rate used a year earlier was P51.734:$1.
The decrease in foreign debt for the month was “due to the downward adjustments of both USD (United States dollar) and third-currency denominated debt amounting to P26.29 billion and
P0.28 billion, respectively, [while] offsetting the net availment of foreign loans amounting to P2.57 billion,” the BTr said.
Government-guaranteed debt, meanwhile, climbed by P3.315 billion or 0.7 percent to P482.982 billion in April, down 2.3 percent from the year-ago figure.
The month-on-month increase, the Treasury said, was due to “net issuance of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P6.44 billion and P0.24 billion, respectively.”
“However, this was tempered by the downward adjustments on both peso and third currency denominated guarantees, which trimmed P2.91 billion and P0.45 billion, respectively,” it added.
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