Government borrowings drop to P340 billion

MANILA, Philippines, April 18 ------ The Marcos government saw its borrowings fall by nearly 50 percent to P340 billion in February even with the issuance of global bonds aimed at plugging the budget gap. Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that the administration brought down its gross borrowings by nearly half to P339.55 billion from P663.42 billion during the same month in 2024. Even after raising $3.3 billion from the issuance of dollar and euro-denominated sustainability bonds, there was no retail Treasury bond issuance in February that ate up the borrowings in the same period last year. 

In February, the government registered its latest round of global bonds, amounting to $3.3 billion or P192 billion, causing the spike in external financing. In the same period last year, only P4.74 billion was from foreign sources. The Philippines raised $2.25 billion and one billion euros ($1.04 billion) in sustainability bonds as part of general budget financing and to refinance assets. Apart from the global bonds, the government received P6.79 billion in project loans in February to account for the remainder of external borrowings. 

On the other hand, the government slashed its local borrowings by 78 percent to P140.8 billion from P658.68 billion, due to the removal of a one-time debt a year ago. Domestic financing in February was made up of P130 billion in Treasury bonds and P10.8 billion in Treasury bills. For the two-month period, the government has cut its borrowing volume by 36 percent to P552.69 billion from P866.57 billion a year ago. 

The government quadrupled foreign borrowings to P259.69 billion as of end-February, but this was offset by the 63-percent decline in local borrowings to P293 billion. 

Source: philstar.com