Gov’t borrowings hit P44.4 B in July

MANILA, Philippines — The national government borrowed P44.4 billion from both domestic and foreign lenders last July, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

Government borrowings rose more than three times to P44.4 billion in July from the P14.21 billion in the same month last year.

This brought total gross borrowings to P505.26 billion from January to July, 2.83 percent down from the P519.97 billion posted in the same period in 2017.

The government borrows from local and foreign creditors to pay maturing debt and finance its budget deficit, which is targeted at three percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

For July alone, P23.07 billion of the total borrowings came from foreign lenders, a significant increase over the P1.18 billion borrowed externally in the same month last year.

The bulk of this amount came in the form of program loans, which reached P21.39 billion. The government also raised P1.68 billion in project loans during the period.

The Philippines receives project and program loans from various multilateral agencies, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

Year-to-date, foreign borrowings reached P178.9 billion, 27.43 percent up from last year’s level of P140.39 billion.

Meanwhile, P21.32 billion of total borrowings last July was borrowed domestically. This was 63.68 percent higher than the P13.03 billion registered last year.

According to the BTr, the whole amount was raised through the issuance of Treasury bills. No Treasury bonds were issued last July as the BTr auction committee rejected all tenders for the security during auctions.

In the first seven months, domestic borrowings declined by 14 percent to P326.36 billion from P379.58 billion last year.

For 2018, the national government is programmed to borrow P986 billion from local and foreign lenders. This is expected to rise 20 percent to P1.19 trillion in expectation of the higher fiscal deficit next year.