The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) on Friday reported that the national government's outstanding debt stock spiked to ₱14.24 trillion by the end of July 2023.
Based on its latest data, the debt stock grew by 0.8 percent or by ₱96.44 billion from the ₱14.12 trillion recorded in June 2023.
BTr said the uptick from end-June was mainly due to “the issuance of domestic securities.”
According to the Treasury Bureau, 31.1 percent of the total debt stock was from foreign borrowings while 68.9 percent was sourced domestically.
To break down, the foreign debt amounted to ₱4.43 trillion while domestic debt amounted to ₱9.81 trillion.
Despite the big chunk of debt, the bureau said the country's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio showed improvement — from 62.1 percent in 2022 to 61 percent in 2023.
The GDP improvement was ascribed to the continuous recovery of the economic conditions “from the impact of health and geopolitical events.”
The guaranteed obligation likewise fell by ₱6.34 billion or 1.7 percent.
“For the month, the decline in guaranteed debt was attributed to the net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P5.30 billion and P0.21 billion, respectively,” the BTr said.
