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Philippines: Gov’t borrowings surge to P206 B
MANILA, Philippines – Government borrowings surged more than seven-fold in April from a year ago after the issuance of retail Treasury bonds (RTBs) during the month, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to Treasury data, government debt jumped by more than 630 percent to P206.47 billion from the P28.04 billion in the same month last year.
This brought the four month total to P419.6 billion, a 74 percent increase from the P240.96 billion recorded the same period in 2016.
For April, the bulk of the total debt came from domestic sources, while the rest came from foreign lenders.
Domestic borrowings saw a 717.26 percent increase to P201.37 billion from P24.64 billion in the same month last year.
More than P181 billion of local debt came in the form of RTBs.
In April, the Treasury raised P181 billion from the sale of three-year fixed RTBs amid strong appetite from the general investing public. The bonds were sold at a coupon rate of 4.25 percent.
Proceeds of this fund-raising activity would serve as budgetary support in light of the administration’s massive spending agenda to sustain economic growth.
Other domestic sources of government financing during the month were T-bills, which stood at P13.45 billion, and T-bonds, at P6.07 billion.
Meanwhile, external borrowings amounted to P5.101 billion, about 50 percent higher than the P3.397 billion recorded a year ago.
This came in the form of project loans from international multilateral agencies, such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
For 2017, the government is programmed to borrow P631.29 billion, lower than last year’s borrowing program by 9.22 percent.
The bulk of credit will be peso-denominated and raised through T-bonds and T-bills at P505.03 billion.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/06/12/1709000/govt-borrowings-surge-p206-b