Gov’t borrowings up 3.9% in 1st quarter

The government borrowed 3.9 percent more during the first quarter, with P100.9 billion sourced from both domestic and foreign lenders, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.

The first quarter figure was higher than the P97.1 billion the government borrowed in the first three months of 2014.

From January to March 2015, funds secured from multilateral lenders and project loans, as well as an overseas bond issuance, totaled P54.4 billion—up from P50.1 billion during the same three-month period of 2014.

Last January, the Philippine government sold $2 billion worth of 25-year Republic of the Philippines (ROP) bonds at a record-low coupon of 3.95 percent abroad.

A larger chunk of this global bond issuance ($1.5 billion) was used to swap and retire old debt, previously issued at higher rates and maturing from next year until 2034. The rest, or about $500 million, will be infused into the budget.

External borrowings amounted to P35.8 billion in January, P15.3 billion in February, and P3.4 billion in March.

As for domestic borrowings, mainly from auctions of treasury bills and bonds, the amount fell to P46.5 billion in the first quarter from almost P47 billion a year ago.

Gross domestic borrowings reached P7.9 billion last January, P12 billion last February, and P26.6 billion last March.

For 2015, the Bureau of the Treasury plans a borrowing mix of 86 percent from local sources, and 14 percent from foreign lender.

Last year, the government borrowed a total of P369 billion—the lowest amount since 2002’s P275 billion. The 2014 gross borrowings were also 33.5-percent lower than the P555 billion reported in 2013.