Government borrowings down 31 percent to P89 billion in April

MANILA, Philippines — The government slashed its borrowings by a little over 30 percent to P89 billion in April, following declines in debt from both the domestic and foreign markets.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed total borrowings in April slipped by 31 percent to P89.2 billion from P129.91 billion in obligations in the same period last year.

This as borrowings from external lenders dropped by 80 percent to just P6.84 billion, while that of domestic debt slipped by 14 percent to P82.36 billion.

The Treasury secured P6.84 billion in debt from foreign sources during the month of April, from P33.78 billion in 2023.

The entire external financing came from project loans. There was no program loan from multilateral institutions during the month.

On the other hand, 82 percent of the domestic borrowings at P67.26 billion was from fixed rate Treasury bonds.

The government also borrowed the remaining P15.1 billion from short-term T-bills.

During the same month last year, the government borrowed more T-bonds at P94.48 billion and just P1.65 billion in T-bills.

For the four-month period, borrowings went up by eight percent to P1.16 trillion from P1.08 trillion sourced in January to April 2023.

As of end-April, domestic borrowings soared by nearly 40 percent to P1.04 trillion but did not manage to offset the 62 percent drop in offshore financing to P124.1 billion.