New high: Gov’t debt topped P16T in Nov
Total outstanding debt of the government rose to a new record high in November, no thanks to a weak peso that bloated the state’s foreign currency-denominated liabilities.
Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed the government’s debt load had risen by 0.4 percent or P70.7 billion month-on-month to P16.09 trillion in November.
Since the beginning of the year, liabilities have piled up by 10.1 percent or P1.47 trillion.
The Treasury attributed the heavier debt pile to the weakness of the local currency, which increased the peso value of foreign currency-denominated obligations of the state.
Data showed the peso depreciated by 0.68 percent in November, the month when the local currency had revisited the record-low level of 59 twice against a resurgent US dollar.
That volatility, in turn, pushed up domestic debts by 0.3 percent to P10.92 trillion, which accounted for 67.87 percent of the total debt stock.
The BTr said the increase was mainly due to regular offerings of Treasury bonds and Treasury bills, although the bearish peso lifted the dollar-denominated onshore borrowings by P1.15 trillion. Year-to-date, local obligations have accumulated by 9 percent.
Meanwhile, external obligations rose by 0.8 percent to P5.17 trillion in November.
The Treasury said the peso depreciation had bloated the local valuation of US dollar-denominated debts by P35.61 billion. This is on top of net availment of foreign loans amounting to P8.33 billion.
Since the beginning of the year, offshore liabilities have increased by 12.4 percent.
The Marcos administration had planned to borrow a total of P2.57 trillion from creditors abroad and at home last year to plug its budget hole, which was estimated at P1.52 trillion or 5.7 percent of gross domestic product.
Of that amount, P646.1 billion was planned to be sourced offshore while remaining P1.92 trillion was meant to be raised at home.
Those borrowings, in turn, were expected to push up the total outstanding debt of the government to P16.1 trillion by the end of 2024.
