The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said the national government’s total outstanding debt reached P13.91 trillion as of the end of April 2023.
According to the BTr, the government’s outstanding debt experienced a 0.4 percent increase from the previous month, largely due to the net issuance of external debt and the local currency’s depreciation against the dollar.
The outstanding debt also witnessed a nine percent surge compared to the previous year’s level.
The government’s domestic debt, amounting to P9.46 trillion, saw a 0.6 percent decrease compared to the end of March 2023.
This decline was a result of the net redemption of domestic securities, which amounted to P57.79 billion.
However, this reduction was slightly offset by the P2.47 billion effect on onshore foreign currency-denominated securities caused by peso depreciation against the dollar.
Nevertheless, the local debt figure still saw a 5.8 percent increase year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the external debt reached P4.45 trillion, up 2.5 percent from the previous month.
The BTr attributed this growth to the P27.98 billion net availment of external loans and the P94.28 billion impact of local-currency depreciation against the US dollar in April.
However, the report also noted that third-currency adjustments against the US dollar led to a reduction of P12.3 billion from the peso value of foreign currency debt.
