Government borrowings hit P76.47 billion in 4 months

MANILA, Philippines - Total government borrowings went up by P76.47 billion from January to April this year, or 31 percent higher than the amount borrowed in the same period last year to plug a widening budget deficit, latest data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed.

Gross external borrowings and gross domestic borrowings amounted to P322.860 billion compared to the P246.39 billion borrowed in the same period last year, data showed.

In the first four months of the year, the government tapped the global and Japanese-debt market to plug the budget gap which is expected to hit P293 billion this year or 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The government issued $1.5 billion or P68.511 billion in global bonds in January, the first Southeast Asian country to issue debt for the year.

In February, the government issued another $1.1 billion or P51.743 billion worth of Samurai or yen-denominated bonds.

Program loans, meanwhile, amounted to P11.233 billion, comprising of the P4.493-billion Development Policy Loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the P6.740-billion Emergency Budget Support loan also from JBIC.

Project loans from various international lenders such as the Asian Development Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development amounted to P9.183 billion during the four-month period.

These loans brought gross external borrowings to P140.670 billion from January to April.

On the other hand, gross domestic borrowings amounted to P182.190 billion comprising mainly of Treasury bills (T-bills) and bonds and the retail treasury bonds for overseas Filipino workers issued in April.

The government borrows from the local and foreign markets to plug its widening budget gap which has swelled to P131.6 billion in the first four months of the year.

The latest budget gap figure is wider than the P111.8 billion recorded in the same period last year.

However, in April alone the government posted a budget surplus of P2.6 billion, smaller than the P7.9-billion surplus posted in the same month last year but a marked improvement compared to the monthly deficits incurred since the start of the year.