The national government debt fell by P86 billion in end-February, helped by lower foreign and domestic borrowings during the period, the Treasury Bureau reported Tuesday.
The total outstanding debt stood at P4.655 trillion during the period, which translates to a theoretical P49,626 obligation for each of the 94 million Filipinos, latest data from the Treasury revealed.
Of the figure, P1.991 trillion is owed to foreign creditors, while P2.664 trillion is debts owed to domestic lenders.
The P75-billion decrease in foreign debt can be attributed to a net repayment of P61 billion, which means the government settled more obligations than it borrowed during the period, officials said.
It could also be traced to the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar — equivalent to P19 billion — but the decrease was partially offset by the P4 billion appreciation of third currencies against the dollar.
Domestic debt, meanwhile, also decreased by P11 billion in February due to the net redemption of government securities by the national government, whose contingent debt also fell to P546 billion in the same month or P4 billion lower than the previous month.
The Aquino administration hopes to slash the budget deficit as a ratio of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2 percent in 2013 from 3.2 percent on program this year.
However, it expects the budget gap to hit roughly P300 billion from the P314.4 billion incurred last year, which was 3.7 percent of the gross domestic product. — JMT/VS
