MANILA — Government’s borrowings rose by 77.84 percent year-on-year in 2017.
Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed the total financing last year amounted to PHP901.672 billion, up from the PHP507.02 billion in 2016 as the government bids to fund more infrastructure projects in particular.
The bulk of these financing, amounting to PHP733.6 billion, was borrowed from domestic fund sources through the regular Treasury bond (T-bond) and Treasury bills (T-bills) auction.
Last year, the government also issued retail treasury bond (RTB) to take advantage of the still low-interest environment and allow small investors to take part in the government’s program to finance its projects.
The government issued PHP181.852 billion worth of RTBs in April last year and PHP255.251 billion last December.
The balance of PHP168.1 billion in government financing last year was sourced from external sources.
The government has been prioritizing domestic borrowings over external borrowings given the low-interest rate environment and to limit any exchange rate fluctuation risks.
Domestic borrowings last year rose by 105.2 percent from year-ago’s PHP357.497 billion.
External borrowing during the same period registered a lower growth of 12.4 percent from PHP149.523 billion in 2016. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
