Outstanding gov’t debt at P3.84T in end-March

THE TOTAL amount of outstanding government-issued debt paper declined to P3.84 trillion as of March as more treasury bonds matured during the month.

The latest Treasury data showed that this level at the end of the first quarter was below the P3.85 trillion recorded in end-February.

At the end of March, treasury bonds accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt with a face amount of P3.56 trillion. Outstanding treasury bills, meanwhile, reached P278.9 billion.

Of the outstanding bills, P89 billion was from the auction of 91-day IOUs; P93.1 billion from 182-day debt paper, and P96.8 billion from 364-day securities.

As for the outstanding bonds, three-year IOUs amounted to P145.5 billion; five-year debt paper, P251.4 billion; seven-year treasuries, P494.1 billion, and 10-year bonds, P364.9 billion.

For 10-year agrarian reform bonds, the outstanding amount was P6.9 billion; 20-year IOUs, P298.3 billion, and 25-year debt paper, almost P236 billion.

Of the $6.58-million Philippine bonds redenominated into 28.5 years, P97.1 million remained outstanding.

Also outstanding was P725.7 billion in retail treasury bonds, P965.8 billion in benchmark bonds, P50 billion in 25-year CB-BoL bonds and P23 billion in onshore dollar bonds.

For the second quarter, the government had programmed to borrow P135 billion in treasury bills and bonds.

The government plans to borrow a total of P674.8 billion this year to slash the debt stock or the share of outstanding debt to the gross domestic product to a record-low 41.8 percent.

Domestic borrowing will make up 85 percent of the total or P570.2 billion. The government will also borrow P104.6 billion from foreign sources—P54.1 billion in program loans, P17.1 billion in project loans and P33.4 billion in bonds and other inflows.