PH gross borrowings rose in 2024
Gross borrowings of the Marcos administration grew by 17 percent in 2024 amid the need to plug its budget hole, although the government was able to keep its financing within its limit.
Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed total gross financing for the entire 2024 amounted to P2.56 trillion, higher than the P2.19 trillion recorded in the preceding year.
But despite the increase, those borrowings had stayed within the P2.57-trillion financing program of the government for last year.
That, in turn, pushed up the state’s total outstanding obligations to P16.05 trillion by the end of 2024, 9.8 percent bigger than the preceding year.
By sources, local financing went up by 17.1 percent to P1.92 trillion, accounting for 75 percent of the total borrowings last year. It was also within the P1.92-trillion ceiling that the Marcos administration had set for its domestic financing requirements.
Figures showed that the amount of onshore borrowings in 2024 included P224.3 billion in financing raised via weekly offerings of short-dated Treasury bills, and P1.1 trillion from the regular sale of long-term Treasury bonds.
The government was also able to borrow P584.86 billion from small investors during its issuance of Retail Treasury Bonds.
Meanwhile, gross external financing grew by 14.7 percent in 2024 to P641.17 billion, below the P646.08-billion cap of the government after a weak peso and an elevated global interest rate environment curbed the government’s appetite for foreign debts.
