The government’s gross borrowings as of end-March declined year-on-year by 12.62 percent due to lower gross external financing, the Bureau of Treasury said.

Data from the state-run Treasury Bureau showed over the weekend that the government's gross borrowings, also called financing, declined to P200.475 billion from P229.432 billion during the same month last year.

Month on month, gross borrowings declined by 51.99 percent from P417.634 billion last February.

In March alone, gross domestic borrowings accounted for 78.01 percent of the government's total gross borrowings, while the rest came from gross external financing.

Gross domestic borrowings last March increased year-on-year by 7.08 percent to P156.395 billion from P146.045 billion in the same month in 2023.

During the month, the Treasury Bureau raised P120 billion from retail Treasury bonds (RTBs), and P36.395 billion from Treasury bills.

Higher interest rates and borrowing costs also made it more expensive for the government to service its debt, which led to more borrowing.

On the other hand, gross external borrowings declined by 44.43 percent to P50870 billion in March from P91,557 billion in the same month in 2023. External borrowings consisted of new project loans worth P11.733 billion and program loans worth P39.137 billion.

Gross domestic financing down in 1st quarter

The same data from the BTr showed that gross financing in the first three months of the year declined by 18.22 percent to P736.583 billion from the year-ago level of P900.776 billion.

Gross external financing declined by 60.26 percent to P117.257 billion in the first quarter this year, from P295.104 billion a year ago.

However, domestic gross borrowings increased by 9.21 percent to P713.132 billion in the first three months this year from P652.986 billion last year.