The government’s gross borrowings rose in the first eight months, Bureau of the Treasury data showed, surging by 50.48 percent to P1.58 trillion as of the end of August from P1.05 trillion a year earlier.
Based on the Treasury’s latest cash operations report, gross domestic borrowings accounted for the bulk of the first eight month’s total at P1.28 trillion. Gross overseas loans, meanwhile, clocked in at P394.56 billion during the period.
Gross domestic loans increased from the year earlier from P996.14 billion. Gross overseas borrowings also rose from P337.79 billion previously.
Fixed-rate treasury bond issuances worth P904.76 billion made up most of the first eight months of the domestic borrowings. An additional P283.76 billion and P95.84 billion were raised through retail T-bonds and T-bills, respectively.
Foreign debts rise
Gross external borrowings, meanwhile, increased by 16.80 percent from P337.79 billion in August 2022 to P394.56 billion in August this year.
Total borrowings in August alone reached P119.12 billion, an increase from P118.36 billion in August 2022.
During the month, borrowings from local lenders slipped by 34 percent to P110.5 billion from P167.81 billion secured in the same period last year.
A huge chunk of the gross domestic borrowings, at P117.37 billion, was from fixed-rate Treasury bonds at P110.23 billion.
The government borrowed the remaining P7.13 billion from short-term T-bills.
In terms of external debt, the Treasury increased its gross borrowings to P6.68 billion from just P1.31 billion from foreign sources last year.
The entire external financing for August was made up of project loans from multilateral institutions.