The national government’s (NG) total outstanding debt declined as of end-September this year due to its repayments of both local and foreign borrowings. Data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Tuesday showed that the NG’s total outstanding debt during the period went down by 0.6 percent or PHP80.9 billion to PHP14.27 trillion from the PHP14.34 trillion in August “primarily due to net repayments of both domestic and external obligations for the month.” “Of the total debt stock, 31.8 percent are from external sources while 68.2 percent are from domestic borrowings,” the BTr said. Domestic debt amounted to PHP9.73 trillion, 0.6 percent lower than the previous months, due to the net redemption of government securities. Domestic debt issuance for the month totaled PHP121.1 billion while redemption amounted to PHP177.9 billion, resulting in a net repayment of PHP56.8 billion. External debt, meanwhile, also declined by 0.5 percent to PHP4.53 trillion. The BTr attributed the decline to the “favorable third currency fluctuations and net repayment of foreign loans.” “The outstanding external debt for September was reduced by PHP8.0 billion due to the net repayment of foreign loans and PHP16.9 billion from the depreciation of third currencies against the US dollar,” it said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
