PR
MANILA, Philippines, 30 September 2020 – The National Government’s (NG) outstanding debt stood at P9,615.03 billion as of end-August 2020. The total debt stock for the month grew by P450.88 billion or 4.9% from its end-July 2020 level predominantly due to the net issuance of domestic securities. From the end-December 2019 level, the NG debt stock has increased by P1,883.74 billion or 24.4%. Of the total outstanding debt stock 30.2% were sourced externally while 69.8% are domestic debt.
NG domestic debt amounted to P6,713.02 billion, P456.53 billion or 7.3% higher compared to the end-July level due to the net issuance of domestic government securities. NG domestic borrowing for the year amounted to P2,500.35 billion as of end-August 2020. Of the total new issuances, P925.38 billion were in Treasury Bills, P447.86 billion were in Treasury Bonds and P827.11 billion in Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs). This also includes the P300.00 billion short-term borrowing from the BSP through a repo agreement. On the other hand, gross maturities reached P914.08 billion (P540.08 billion for T-bills and P374 billion for T-Bonds). To date, domestic debt has increased by P1,585.42 billion or 30.9% since the beginning of the year.
NG external debt of P2,902.01 billion was P5.65 billion or 0.2% lower from the previous month. For August, the decline in external debt was attributed to the P37.36 billion net effect of local currency appreciation[1]. Meanwhile, net availment of external loans added P27.07 billion[2] alongside the P4.64 billion effect of appreciation on third-currency denominated external loans. NG external financing registered an inflow of P509.69 billion for January-August 2020 vis-à-vis debt repayment of P117.04 billion. For the period, project loan availment totaled P17.09 billion (USD0.35 billion) while program loans amounted to P306.54 billion (USD6.32 billion). Meanwhile, offshore bond issuances totaled P186.06 billion (USD3.84 billion). From the start of the year, NG external debt has increased by P298.32 billion or 11.5%.
Total NG guaranteed obligations decreased by P11.83 billion or 2.6% month-over-month to P447.00 billion in August. The lower level of guarantees was due to the net redemption of both local and external guarantees amounting to P8.59 billion and P0.42 billion, respectively. Local currency appreciation further reduced the value of external guarantees by P2.85 billion offsetting the effect of third-currency appreciation amounting to P0.03 billion. Since the beginning of the year, NG guarantees have decreased by P41.75 billion or 8.5%.
