End-October gov’t debt burden at P5.958T

The national government’s outstanding debt inched up by 0.4 percent to P5.958 trillion as of end-October from P5.936 trillion a month ago on the back of additional borrowings at the start of the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

Compared with a year ago, the government’s outstanding debt was also higher than the P5.714 trillion recorded in end-October last year.

Domestic liabilities, which make up the bulk of the national government debt, rose by 0.4 percent to P3.898 trillion in October from P3.883 trillion in end-September.

“For the month of October, the majority of increase in domestic obligations was due to net issuance of government securities amounting to P14.98 billion. This was slightly trimmed by the appreciation of the local currency against the US dollar that reduced the peso value of debt by P20 million,” the Treasury explained. The peso strengthened to 46.90:$1 last October from 46.95:$1 in the previous month.

In October, the Treasury partly awarded the benchmark 91-day treasury bills due to lower bid rates—accepting only P4.41 billion out of the P8-billion offer, while all the P6-billion each in 182- and 364-day debt instruments were sold. The Treasury also awarded only P16.22 billion of the P25-billion re-issued five-year bonds offered last October as higher bid rates mainly due to external uncertainties pushed the yield upward.

Treasury data showed that as of end-October, long-term debt accounted for the bulk of the outstanding amount at P3.222 trillion. Short-term domestic liabilities stood at P281.1 billion while medium-term debt was at P394.7 billion.

Outstanding long-term foreign debt, meanwhile, increased by 0.3 percent to P2.06 trillion in end-October from P2.053 trillion in September.

“The increase in external obligations is attributed to net availments worth P13.8 billion; however, this was tempered by the impact of the stronger peso against the dollar- and third currencies-denominated debt that reduced the peso value of debt by P2.19 billion and P4.55 billion, respectively,” the Treasury said.

Contingent liabilities, or the national government’s guaranteed debt, dropped by 0.9 percent to nearly P441 billion at the end of the first 10 months from P445.2 billion in September.

“The decline [in guaranteed obligations] was due to the combined effect of peso appreciation against the US dollar, net depreciation of third currencies and net repayments,” according to the Treasury.

As of end-October, guaranteed domestic debt stood at P137.8 billion while foreign liabilities amounted to P303.2 billion, Treasury data showed.