THE Bureau of the Treasury is set to borrow P200 billion from the local debt market in November, the same amount it programmed to borrow this month.
Broken down, the Treasury aims to raise P140 billion through auctioning off Treasury Bonds (T-bonds) while another P60 billion is programmed to be borrowed through Treasury Bills (T-bills).
It will be offering P15 billion in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills in each of the four auction days starting November 2 (Tuesday) and the next three Mondays of the month. Since November 1 is a holiday, the auction date was moved to November 2, which was declared by Malacañang as a special working day.
The Treasury will also sell P35 billion in T-bonds on each of the four auction days, particularly on November 3 (Wednesday) and the next three Tuesdays of the month. This year, the national government programmed to borrow a total of P3.1-trillion, most of which is expected to be raised through domestic sources.
The government borrows to meet its spending requirements as well as to finance its budget deficit.
The national government’s budget deficit as of end-September has reached P1.14 trillion, surpassing the P879.2-billion shortfall in the same period last year. The wider gap resulted from government expenditures overtaking state revenues.
As of end-August this year, the national government’s outstanding debt has hit a new record-high of P11.64 trillion, up by more than a fifth from P9.62 trillion a year ago. It is expected to reach P11.73 trillion by the end of this year and P13.42 trillion by end-2022.