Spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow: Gov’t debt now P7.8T

The national government debt hit P7.8 trillion at the end of July, representing a 10.8 percent increase — equivalent to P760.47 billion in new loans.

According to the Bureau of the Treasury, this level is also 7 percent higher than the total debt recorded at the end of 2018, representing new loans of P511.55 billion since the start of 2019.

Of this, the treasury said 32.7 percent were from foreign sources while 67.3 percent were domestic loans.

On a monthly basis, however, the agency said the July debt figure showed a 0.8 percent decline from June’s level, equivalent to P64.58 billion, due to peso appreciation and domestic redemptions.

The treasury said that the national government’s domestic debt amounted to P5.25 trillion.

Since the start of 2019, domestic debt increased by P473.81 billion or 9.9 percent.

The national government’s external debt of P2.55 trillion was P20.42 billion or 0.8 percent lower from June.

Total national government guaranteed loans decreased by P2.78 billion or 0.6 percent month-on-month to P483.81 billion in July, and P0.09 billion or 0.02 percent lower than its level a year ago.

From end-December 2018, total national government guaranteed debt is still lower by P3.77 billion or 0.8 percent./tsb