Government borrowings decline 12% in July

MANILA, Philippines, September 7 ------ The national government’s borrowing in July declined by nearly 12 percent compared to the same month last year, with data showing reduced reliance on domestic sources even as external borrowing posted an increases.

Based on documents from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), the country’s gross borrowing declined to P166.1 billion from P188.7 billion a year ago. Gross external debt added P5.5 billion to its pile of P13.6 billion, which is equivalent to a nearly 70 percent increase from the P8 billion recorded in July last year.

On the other hand, gross domestic borrowing declined by 15.5 percent to P152.5 billion from P180.6 billion a year ago. Despite the decline, domestic borrowing accounted for 91.8 percent of the government’s total financing share for the month of July, while the rest was in external borrowings.

From January to July, gross borrowing of the government stood at P1.76 trillion, roughly unchanged from the level recorded in the same period last year. Broken down, external gross borrowing surged by nearly 51 percent at P415.9 billion from the previous year’s level of P275.5 billion. Meanwhile, domestic gross borrowing declined to P1.34 trillion, which is equivalent to a 9.46 percent shortfall from last year’s P1.48 trillion.

The national government reduced its borrowing program for the third quarter of this year to P690 billion, lower than the P735 billion set in the prior quarter, indicating a significant cutback in issuing long-term debt securities. Recently, the government has raised P507.16 billion from the recently concluded sale of retail Treasury bonds amid a “very strong” market demand, according to the BTr. Of the total amount, the 31st tranche of RTBs raised P425.51 in fresh funding. Earlier, National Treasurer Sharon Almanza said the auction of the 31st RTBs was ‘one of the most successful’ due to the high market demand and attributed the market need to the maturity of the bonds, which is set at five years.

Source: philstar.com