PH National Debt Reaches 12.68T in March

The total debt of the Philippine government showed a significant increase as of March 2022 by more than half a trillion pesos, according to the data issued by the Bureau of the Treasury on May 5. The country's total borrowing amounted to P12.68 trillion, showing a 4.8% increase or additional P586.29 billion from P12.093 trillion in the previous month.

Sixty-nine percent of the total debt stock were loaned from domestic markets while 30.1% were borrowed from external sources. The total debt portfolio soared due to higher borrowing and sale of government securities to both local and foreign lenders.

In February, the national government's local debt reached P8.87 trillion or 5.4% higher from P8.413 trillion. Meanwhile, the foreign debt registered P3.81 trillion or 3.5% higher compared to P3.68 trillion in February.

According to the Treasury, the increase in both local and foreign debt was brought by the increase in overseas borrowing along with the weaker peso against the US dollar. The Philippine peso depreciated from P51.385 as of Feb. 2022 to P51.906 as of March 2022.