Government borrowings down by 12 percent to P830 billion in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — The government slashed its borrowings by 12 percent to P830 billion in the first quarter, particularly its obligations to the foreign market, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

For March alone, government borrowings went down by 13 percent to P207.27 billion from P237.6 billion in the same period in 2023.

This came as borrowings from external lenders dropped by 44 percent to P50.87 billion even as domestic debt grew seven percent to P156.4 billion.

This brought the first quarter borrowings to P830.39 billion, 12.4 percent below last year’s P948.09 billion.

For the three-month period, domestic borrowings increased by nine percent to P713.13 billion, but this was offset by the 60-percent drop to just P117.26 billion in offshore financing.

Broken down, 48 percent of the domestic borrowings at P341.41 billion during the quarter was from the issuance of retail Treasury bonds, which was raised in February.

Another 43 percent or P310 billion was raised  from the issuance of fixed rate Treasury bonds.

The remaining nine percent or P61.72 billion was borrowed from short-term T-bills.