Daily Tribune
(February 26 2025) Top view of High-rise buildings at Ortigas Business Center is seen on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 in Quezon City. Marcos administration expects the Philippines to increase foreign direct investments following country’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) nations flagged for weak anti-money laundering safeguards or grey list. Photo/Analy Labor
The country’s outstanding debt ballooned by 1.63 percent as of end-January, incurring additional P261 billion, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) reported on Tuesday.
With this, the Treasury said the national government’s outstanding obligations now hit P16.31 trillion.
Despite this, the Treasury maintained that the level remains manageable and in line with the government’s target to support economic development while ensuring fiscal sustainability.
Based on records, the month-over-month rise in debt stock was due to the net incurrence of new domestic and external debt, as well as the impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar from P57.847 at the end of 2024 to P58.375 at the end of January 2025.
“Of the total debt stock, domestic debt accounted for 67.9 percent, while the remaining 32.1 percent consisted of external obligations,” the BTr statement said.
Further, it said that the end-January 2025 level of domestic debt reached P11.08 trillion, reflecting an increase of P153.68 billion or 1.41 percent from its end-December 2024 level.
The local debt was mainly due to the net issuance of government securities of P152.17 billion as gross issuances of P270.01 billion exceeded repayments of P117.84 billion to partly finance the projected deficit for the quarter.
Meanwhile, the valuation effect of local currency depreciation against the US dollar added P1.51 billion to the January debt total.
Moreover, the BTr noted that the country’s external debt stood at P5.23 trillion, reflecting a P107.79 billion or 2.10 percent increase from the previous month, driven by net availment of foreign loans amounting to P59.30 billion, as well as the upward revaluation caused by unfavorable
US- and third-currency movements amounting to P46.74 billion and P1.75 billion, respectively.
For the part of guaranteed obligations, it decreased by P0.39 billion or 0.11 percent to P346.27 billion as of end-January 2025, from its end-December 2024 level, due to net repayment of domestic and external guarantees amounting to P1.55 billion and P0.25 billion, respectively.
“The redemption of matured guarantees more than offset the currency valuation adjustments on US dollar and third-currency denominated guarantees amounting to P0.83 billion and P0.58 billion, respectively,” the BTr stated.
