Philippine debt stood at P11.73 trillion as of end-December 2021, the Bureau of Treasury said Tuesday.

For December, total debt decreased by P203.28 billion due to net redemption of domestic securities.

Year-on-year growth was registered at 19.7 percent, lower than 26.7 percent last year due to better fiscal performance and lower financing requirements.

Of the total debt stock, 30.3 percent was sourcd externally while 69.7 percent were domestic borrowings.

Debt to GDP ratio was P8.17 trillion, which is P271.09 million, or 3.2 percent lower compared to the end-November 2021 level as the repayment of the P540 billion provisional advance from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas outpaced the net issuance of government securities.

Nevertheless, domestic debt grew by P1.48 trillion or 22 percent for the year in line with domestic borrowing program which favors domestic issuance to mitigate foreign exchange risk and support local capital market development.

Foreign debt of P3.56 trillion was P67.81 billion or 1.9 percent higher from the previous month.

For December, the increment in external debt was attributed to the impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar amounting to P40.87 billion and the net availment of external obligations amounting to P33.83 billion.

These more than offset the effects of adjustments in other foreign currencies amounting to P6.89 billion.

From the start of the year, external debt has increased by P457.82 billion or 14.8 percent of which 6.6 percent can be attributed to peso depreciation. Bureau of Treasury