The National Government’s (NG) total outstanding debt stood at a record P14.79 trillion as of end-January.

NG’s debt stock rose by P173.91 billion or 1.19 percent month-over-month due to the net issuance of domestic securities and the effect of peso depreciation, the Bureau of Treasury said Friday.

Of the total debt stock, 31.29 percent are external debt while 68.71 percent are domestic debt.

For NG domestic debt, the end-January level of P10.16 trillion is P144.25 billion or 1.44 percent higher compared with the end-December 2023 level due to the net issuance of government securities.

Gross issuance of domestic debt for the month reached P211.11 billion, while principal payments totaled P69.67 billion, resulting in a net issuance of P141.44 billion.

Meanwhile, the valuation effect of local currency depreciation against

the US dollar on foreign currency-denominated domestic debt added P2.81 billion to the January total.

NG external debt of P4.63 trillion has increased by P29.66 billion or 0.65 percent from the end-December 2023 level.

The increase was attributed to the P81.73 billion upward revaluation caused by local currency depreciation against the US dollar.

However, this was partially offset by favorable movements in third currencies (P28.52 billion), reducing the net increase by P52.07 billion.

Additionally, external loan availment contributed P61.86 billion for the month. This was comprised of P5.36 billion ($0.10 billion) in project loan disbursements and P56.50 billion ($1.00 billion) from program loans, which included loans from ADB ($400 million) and the World Bank ($600 million).

Meanwhile, total repayment of external loans amounted to P85.41 billion ($1.51 billion) resulting in a total net repayment of P23.55 billion for January 2024.

NG guaranteed obligations have decreased by P0.78 billion or 0.22 percent from its end-December 2023 level to P348.66 billion as of end-January 2024. For the month, net repayment of both domestic and external guarantees amounted to P1.12 billion and P0.24 billion, respectively.

In addition, third currency appreciation against the US dollar further trimmed P2.40 billion. These more than offset the P2.98 billion revaluation effect of peso depreciation on US dollar-denominated guarantees. DMS