Outstanding national gov’t debt hit P5.75T in January
MANILA, Philippines–The outstanding debt of the national government inched up to P5.75 trillion at the end of January, according to the latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
On its website, the BTr reported that the national government’s liabilities rose 0.3 percent from the end-2014 figure of P5.74 trillion, and was also 2.8-percent higher than the P5.59 trillion posted at end-January last year.
As of end-January this year, debt from domestic lenders went up 0.2-percent month-on-month and 5.7-percent year-on-year to P3.83 trillion to comprise the bigger chunk or 68 percent of the outstanding obligation.
According to the BTr, the month-on-month increase in domestic debt came from the P7.8 billion in net issuance, even as the stronger peso brought down the peso value of multi-currency locally-issued debt securities by P400 million. Domestic debt comes mainly from the sale of treasury bills and bonds to local investors.
As for the external debt, it increased 0.5 percent month-on-month to P1.92 trillion because of net availments worth P33 billion, which were used to redeem high coupon bonds in order to meet the year’s financing requirements.
The peso’s appreciation nonetheless slashed the peso value of foreign debt by P26 billion.
On a year-on-year comparison, the foreign debt of the national government slid by 2.5 percent.
At end-January, the share of US dollar-denominated debt to the total was 25 percent; 5 percent for Japanese yen-denominated obligations; and 1 percent for euro-denominated liabilities.
The BTr said the national government’s debt portfolio “continue[s] to exhibit resilience against interest rate risk,” as just 6.78 percent was subject to refixing due to issuance of fixed-rate instruments.
“[T]he weighted average interest rate indicates that the cost of servicing domestic obligations remains steady at 5.7 percent while external costs are down by 10 basis points to 4.8 percent,” the BTr added.
Debt guaranteed by the national government, meanwhile, declined 2.1 percent month-on-month and 13-percent year-on-year to P417.3 billion as of end-January.
The lower national government outstanding guaranteed debt was a result of “currency adjustments, net repayment and late recording of prepayments made by Psalm [Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.] to various foreign creditors amounting to P6 billion during the previous month,” the BTr explained.
