Gov't debt hits P4.4-T in January

BusinessWorld- Posted at 04/16/2010 12:32 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Outstanding debt of the National Government rose 4.3% year on year to hit P4.443 trillion last January, the Treasury bureau said yesterday.

Of that amount, P2.43 trillion was owed to domestic creditors, accounting for 54.7% of total debt and up slightly by 1.5% from January last year.

Some P2.42 trillion worth of government securities were sold last January, also slightly up by 1.8% from the same month in 2009.

Domestic loans availed by NG agencies, however, dropped 49.8% to P6.8 billion in January.

Foreign debt last January totaled P2 .01 trillion, accounting for 45.3% of the total and up by 7.9% from the same month last year.

Foreign debt consisted mainly of direct loans by NG agencies, which rose 7.2% to P770.8 billion in January; and foreign currency-denominated securities, which rose 9.3% to hit P1.174 trillion.

Foreign currency-denominated securities consisted of US dollar bonds and notes, which increased 9.8% to P1.073 trillion; euro bonds, which rose 6.5% to P74.9 billion; and yen bonds, which dropped slightly by 1.2% to P25.9 billion.

Contingent debt, composed mainly of NG guarantees, rose 14% to P619.7 billion. Of that amount, guarantees to foreign creditors rose 14.7% to P540.2 billion, while those to domestic creditors were up 9.2% to P79.5 billion.