State debt up to P5.85T in July

By: Ben O. de Vera - 9 years ago

The outstanding debt of the government inched up to P5.847 trillion as of the end of July mainly due to the peso’s depreciation, the latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed.

The end-July figure was higher by 0.5 percent than the P5.816 trillion posted a month ago and 2.9 percent higher than the P5.683 trillion a year ago.

Domestic debt reached P3.859 trillion as of end-July, up 0.5 percent from P3.839 trillion at end-June and higher by 2.7 percent than the P3.757 trillion posted last year.

In a statement, the Treasury attributed the higher domestic obligations in July to the net issuance of government securities worth P19.4 billion, coupled with the upward adjustment of about P200 million in the peso value of offshore bonds, as the peso depreciated to 45.6:$1 from 45.2:$1 in the previous month.

Treasury data showed that as of July, long-term domestic debt accounted for P3.18 trillion; medium-term liabilities hit P401 billion, and short-term debt, P401 billion.

At end-July, domestic obligations composed two-thirds of the total outstanding debt.

Foreign debt also inched up by 0.6 percent to P1.988 trillion in July from P1.977 trillion in June and higher by 3.2 percent than the P1.926 trillion in July last year.

The higher external debt came on the back of the peso’s depreciation against the US dollar, which brought up the peso value of dollar debt by P17.5 billion. The external debt was nonetheless narrowed by the downward revaluation of third currency debt against the peso, which amounted P6.7 billion.

Also, the Treasury said net availment in July, “though not significant,” added about P680 million to foreign debt that month.

The government’s outstanding guaranteed debt increased by 0.2 percent to P402.6 billion in July, from P401.9 billion in June.

But compared to the year-ago level, the July 2015 figure was down 11.9 percent from P456.9 billion in 2014.

The Treasury said the month-on-month increase was caused by the “combined effect of currency adjustments which raised the peso value of debt by P2.6 billion and net availment on external guarantees amounting to [about] P10 million.”

“These more than offset the net repayment of domestic guarantees amounting to [about] P50 billion and the P1.8-billion reduction in value of external guarantees due to third currency depreciation against the US dollar,” the Treasury added.

As of July, the outstanding guaranteed domestic debt reached P105.9 billion, flat month on month but down 19.2 percent year on year.

Guaranteed foreign debt as of July was P296.8 billion, up 0.3 percent from a month ago but 8.9-percent lower than a year ago.