Gov’t borrowings up 36.5% as of October

Government borrowings further rose by more than a third year-on-year to P428.1 billion at the end of the first 10 months as more debt papers were sold locally.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed that gross borrowings in January to October rose by 36.5 percent from P313.7 billion a year ago.

End-October domestic borrowings rose to P339.1 billion from P189.8 billion last year.

Fixed-rate treasury bonds accounted for the bulk or P208.9 billion, while P30.1 billion were from the sale of treasury bills.

The Bureau of the Treasury in September issued P100 billion in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) to small investors, more than triple the minimum offering of P30 billion.

The 18th RTB sale of the Philippine government was the first such issuance under the Duterte administration, aimed at augmenting funds for programs part of the 10-point socioeconomic agenda, especially infrastructure projects.

External borrowings, meanwhile, declined to P88.9 billion as of end-October from P123.9 billion last year.

In the first 10 months, multilateral lenders’ program loans amounted P32.1 billion, project loans reached P15.5 billion, while the government’s global bond sale last February raised P41.3 billion.

As domestic interest rates remain relatively low, the Duterte administration wanted to finance its programmed wider deficit of 3 percent of the gross domestic product in the next six years through a borrowing mix of 80-percent local and 20-percent foreign.