Philippines’ debt stock rose to new high of P13.7T in January

The Philippine national government debt’s stock increased by 2 percent to reach yet another record high of P13.7 trillion at end-January, representing an additional P280 billion that month, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

In January, local debt increased by 1.9 percent or P176.55 billion to P9.38 trillion mainly because the government’s new borrowings were more than the payments made that month.

For the same reason, foreign debt increased by 2.4 percent or P103.08 billion to P4.31 trillion.

Also in January, the Philippine peso’s appreciation relative to the US dollar trimmed the peso value of foreign currency-denominated debt by P93.84 billion. However, this was not enough to prevent an overall increase in the debt stock.