The National Government (NG)’s outstanding debt hit P5,948 billion at the end of this year’s first semester, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the NG’s debt stock climbed by P62.41 billion compared to the end-May level of P5,886 billion, as a result of foreign exchange (forex) adjustments and domestic net issuance. However, total NG debt was still 0.1% or P6.54 billion lower than its end-2015 level of P5,955 billion, Tan said in his report.
Total domestic debt amounted to P3,828 billion, an increment of P31.25 billion or 0.8% from the previous month’s level of P3,797 billion and accounting for 64.4% of outstanding liabilities.
Based on Treasury data, the net issuance of government securities in June and the depreciation of the Peso against the US dollar contributed to the growth in domestic obligations equivalent to P31.12 billion and P0.13 billion, respectively.
Nevertheless, the domestic debt level has fallen by 1.4% or P55.88 billion since the beginning of the year.
On the other hand, NG external debt stood at P2,120 billion, 1.5% or P31.15 billion higher compared to the end-May 2016 level of P2,088 billion.
The increment in external liabilities was the combined effect of currency fluctuations on US dollar- and third currency-denominated debt that raised the peso value of outstanding obligations by P12.65 billion and P21.64 billion, respectively. These far outpaced net repayments amounting to P3.14 billion.
To date, the external debt stock has increased by 2.4% or P49.35 billion over the last six months.
Meanwhile, NG guaranteed debt was adjusted to P563.28 billion as of June 2016 from its previous level of P448.20 billion in May 2016.
“The change is primarily due to the adjustment and reconciliation of outstanding guarantees extended by the National Government” according to Treasurer Tan.
Forex fluctuations against the US dollar and third currencies further increased the peso value of external guaranteed debt by P1.85 billion and P9.70 billion, respectively. This was tempered by net repayments on NG’s domestic guarantees with that of the National Food Authority (NFA) amounting to P1.58 billion from its credit line with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and repayment on external guarantees amounting to P1.26 billion.
Accordingly, NG guaranteed obligations has gone up by 28.6% or P125.40 billion from the end-2015 level of P437,888 billion.
