Government borrowed 42.6% less at P130 billion

December 2, 2024 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The government slashed its borrowings by 42.6 percent to nearly P130 billion in October, following declines in debt from foreign markets.

Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed total borrowings for October went down to P129.26 billion from the P225.20 billion in obligations in the same month last year.

Broken down, borrowings from external lenders stood at P61.8 billion, while that of domestic debt reached P67.46 billion.

Borrowings from domestic sources fell by 61.4 percent from P174.63 billion in the same period last year. It also accounted for 52.1 percent of total debt in October.

Around 66.7 percent of the domestic borrowings at P45 billion was from fixed rate Treasury bonds. The government also borrowed the remaining P22.46 billion from short-term T-bills.

During the same month last year, the government borrowed more T-bonds at P90 billion and secured P71.78 billion in retail onshore dollar bonds. It also had P12.85 billion in T-bills.

Meanwhile, borrowings from external sources rose by 22.2 percent to P61.8 billion in October from P50.57 billion in the same month in 2023.

The external financing mostly came from program loans from multilateral institutions, which stood at P49.89 billion. On the other hand, project loans reached P11.91 billion in October.

Total borrowings from January to October reached P2.43 trillion, 22.7 percent higher than the P1.98 trillion in the same period last year.

This means that as of end-October, the government had already used up 94.5 percent of the P2.57-trillion borrowing plan it crafted for the year.

As of end-October, domestic borrowings stood at P1.86 trillion while offshore financing reached P566.25 billion.

Next year, the Philippines will slightly decrease its borrowing program by a percentage to P2.55 trillion, still in favor of domestic creditors.

Sourcing from the domestic market is part of the administration’s prudent debt management strategy and its initiatives to further develop the domestic capital markets.