The Philippines' outstanding debt dipped slightly to P14.24 trillion in September due to net repayments of both domestic and external obligations for the month, the Bureau of the Treasury said on Tuesday. 

Data from the bureau showed the national government's total outstanding debt at the end of September 2023 declined by P80.9 billion, or 0.6 percent, from the P14.35 trillion debt stock at the end of August 2023.

As of September, 31.8 percent of the total debt stock came from external sources, while 68.2 percent came from domestic borrowings.

For domestic debts, the end-September 2023 level of P9.73 trillion is P56.8 billion, or 0.6 percent, lower than the prior month due to the net redemption of government securities.

Domestic debt issuance for the month totaled P121.1 billion, while redemption amounted to P177.9 billion, resulting in a net repayment of P56.8 billion.

Local currency depreciation against the US dollar had minimal effect on debt stock valuation at only P0.01 billion. Year-to-date, domestic debt increased by P526.0 billion, or 5.7 percent.

Meanwhile, external debt reached P4.53 trillion, 0.5 percent or P24.1 billion lower than the previous month, due to favorable third currency fluctuations and the net repayment of foreign loans.

Outstanding external debts for September were reduced by P8 billion due to the net repayment of foreign loans and P16.9 billion from the depreciation of third currencies against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, peso depreciation against the US dollar added P0.7 billion. The national government's external debt increased by P323.8 billion or 7.7 percent from the end-December 2022 level.

Total NG guaranteed obligations decreased by P4.4 billion, or 1.2 percent, month-on-month to P362.22 billion as of the end of September 2023.

The decline in guaranteed debt was attributed to the net repayment of domestic and external guarantees amounting to P1.6 billion and P1.4 billion, respectively.

In addition, the value of third-currency-denominated guarantees decreased by P1.3 billion due to currency adjustments, offsetting the P0.03 billion additional debt caused by the peso depreciation against the US dollar.