THE national government’s total debt amounted to P14.27 trillion at the end of September 2023, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The BTr data showed this was 5.6 percent more than the P13.52 trillion recorded in the same period last year.
Of the total debt stock, the Treasury said 31.8 percent are from external sources while 68.2 percent are from domestic borrowings.
“The amount underscores a decline of P80.9 billion or 0.6 percent from the previous month’s level primarily due to net repayments of both domestic and external obligations for the month,” the BTr said.
For NG domestic debt, the end-September 2023 level of P9.73 trillion is P56.8 billion or 0.6 percent lower compared with the prior month due to the net redemption of government securities.
Domestic debt issuance for the month totaled P121.1 billion while redemption amounted to P177.9 billion, resulting in a net repayment of P56.8 billion.
Local currency depreciation against the US dollar had minimal effect on debt stock valuation at only P0.01 billion.
Year-to-Date, the Treasury said the domestic debt has increased by P526 billion or 5.7 percent.
External debt, the Treasury said, reached P4.53 trillion—P24.1 billion or 0.5 percent lower from the previous month due to favorable third currency fluctuations and net repayment of foreign loans.
The outstanding external debt for September was reduced by P8 billion due to the net repayment of foreign loans and P16.9 billion from the depreciation of third currencies against the US dollar.
The Treasury also said the peso depreciation against the US dollar added P0.7 billion. NG external debt has increased by P323.8 billion or 7.7 percent from the end-December 2022 level.
Meanwhile, total national government-guaranteed obligations decreased by P4.4 billion or 1.2 percent month-over-month to P362.22 billion as of end-September 2023.
The decline in the level of guaranteed debt was attributed to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P1.6 billion and P1.4 billion, respectively.
The BTr also said the value of third-currency denominated guarantees went down by P1.3 billion, due to currency adjustments, offsetting the P0.03 billion additional debt caused by peso depreciation against the US dollar.
Year-to-date, NG guaranteed obligations have decreased by P36.8 billion or 9.2 percent from its end-December 2022 level.