PH gov’t goes slow on new borrowings, down 28% as of Sept

FILE PHOTO: A logo of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) is seen at their main building in Manila, Philippines March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

The national government saw the amount of its new borrowings fall by 28 percent in the nine months ending Sept. 31, with net inflows totaling at just P1.68 trillion this year compared to P2.33 trillion in the same period last year.

This came up as the monthly readout for May pared off the running tally by P282.6 billion, mainly on account of settling P300 billion in provisional advances or short-term borrowing secured from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in January.

Payment for the BSP loan was due in April and extended to June, but was fully repaid a month ahead.

Such provisional advances, which are a temporary measure under the BSP charter, had provided the national government steady access to cash for the uninterrupted delivery of large fiscal response and recovery measures despite the lower revenue collections—at that time—as well as disruptions to financial markets experienced throughout the last two years.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury show that from January to September, gross foreign borrowings rang up at P346 billion, including P63.5 billion in project loans, P136.6 billion in program loans, P117.3 billion in US dollar bonds and P28.6 billion in Japanese yen bonds.

At the same time, the government paid P81.9 billion of its foreign obligations, which put the net foreign borrowing for the period at P264 billion, which was 8 percent lower than the P287.6 billion recorded last year.

Also, gross foreign borrowings totaled at P1.52 trillion, including P878.2 billion in retail Treasury bonds and P930.4 billion in fixed-rate T-bonds.

From January to September, the government redeemed a total of P287.1 billion worth of T-bills, which put the net domestic borrowing for the period at P1.41 trillion, which was 31 percent lower than the P2.04 trillion chalked up last year.

In September alone, the government borrowed P8.2 billion from foreign lenders, a 83-percent drop from P48.2 billion in the same month last year.

Borrowings from local lenders totaled P480.5 billion or 188 percent more—almost triple—compared to the year-ago P166.9 billion.

This put the government’s financing position in September at a net borrowing of P361.4 billion, surging by 73 percent from P208.5 billion in the month of 2021.

This year, as of end-September, the national government’s budget deficit was pegged at P1 trillion, shrinking by 11 percent from P1.14 trillion in the comparative nine months last year.

—Ronnel W. Domingo INQ