PHL national gov’t liabilities up 8.3% year-on-year in April ’17

Higher domestic borrowing resulted to the 8.3 percent rise of Philippine national government’s outstanding debt in April 2017 to PHP6.37 trillion. (Photo: Bureau of the Treasury-Intramuros, Manila/Facebook)

MANILA—Higher domestic borrowing resulted to the 8.3 percent rise of Philippine national government’s outstanding debt in April 2017 to PHP6.37 trillion.

Data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) Monday showed that the latest level of the national government liabilities is mainly accounted for by domestic debt, which amounted to PHP4.16 trillion, up 10.4 percent from year-ago’s PHP3.77 trillion.

Bulk of these are accounted for by the issuance of government securities, which increased by 10.4 percent to PHP4.16 trillion.

Last March, the BTr gained PHP181 billion from the issuance of three-year Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs), which fetched a coupon rate of 4.25 percent.

Loans in the first four months of the year totaled to PHP948 billion, up 58.5 percent percent from year-ago’s PHP598 billion.

BTr said rise of domestic liabilities was cushioned by the strength of the peso, which limited the rise on the value of US dollar debt instrument issued in the country.

Outstanding external debt during the period reached PHP2.21 trillion, up 4.5 percent from the PHP2.11 trillion in April 2016.

The latest figure was based on a 49.90 foreign exchange rate, up from the 46.88 basis same period in 2016.

Debt securities issued abroad primarily accounted for the most of liabilities sourced overseas after it reached PHP1.36 trillion, 5.2 percent higher than the PHP1.3 trillion in April 2016.

Loans extended by external fund sources totaled to PHP847.3 billion, 3.5 percent up from the PHP818.85 billion same period last year.

BTr said strength of the local currency during the period cushioned the impact of appreciation of third currency-denominated debt during the period.

Outstanding liabilities guaranteed by the NG reached PHP495.08 billion as of last April, down 12.3 percent compared to the PHP564.5 billion same period last year.

Total domestic guaranteed liabilities amounted to PHP209.29 billion while guarantees for foreign liabilities reached PHP285.8 billion.

Guarantees for domestic debt fell 17.1 percent from year-ago’s PHP252.3 billion and by 8.5 percent for external debt from the PHP312.2 billion in April 2016.

The decline was traced to the government’s net repayments of its domestic guarantees and the appreciation of the peso as well as third currencies.