Gov't gross borrowing crosses last year's level

Both foreign and domestic borrowings of the national government swelled by double digits in the first eight months of the year, leading to a 17.2 percent increase in the Marcos administration's gross debt to P2.27 trillion as of end-August.

- DERCO ROSAL

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the government's debt as of end-August flipped from its lower figures at end-July. This year's gross debt has already overtaken last year's P1.93 trillion.

As of end-August, gross borrowings accounted for 89 percent of the government's total planned borrowings of P2.55 trillion for the year.

Gross domestic debt swelled to P1.84 trillion as of end-August, P189 billion or 11.5 percent higher than last year's gross loans from local sources at P1.65 trillion. It accounted for 81.1 percent of the total borrowings during the eight-month period, exceeding the government's target share of 80 percent.

Notably, the government issued a total of 425.6 billion in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) in August, compared to P584 billion a year ago. It can be recalled that there was zero issuance of such a scale until August.