The Bureau of the Treasury has reduced its domestic borrowing program set for next month.
Based on the Treasury advisory on Wednesday, the April financing plan of the Marcos administration is set at P160 billion, lower than this month’s program of P200 billion.
The bureau indicated it will sell P60 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) and P100 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bonds) next month.
The Treasury will still hold a weekly auction for T-bills and T-bonds, offering P15 billion worth for each 91-, 182-, and 364-day long-term IOUs every Monday and issue them on April 5, 12, and 26.
Moreover, the bureau will issue P25 billion worth of three-, nine-, 13-, and seven-year T-bonds on April 5, 13, 20, and 27, respectively.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the government will continue borrowing mostly from the domestic debt market under the Marcos administration.
In 2022, the national government borrowed at a much lower amount than initially estimated last year on the back of robust revenue haul of the tax agencies.
Total borrowings amounted to P2.163 trillion from January to December 2022, below the P2.212 trillion program for the year.
At the same time, the government also reduced its borrowing by 16 percent against P2.579 trillion in full-year 2021.
In 2023, the Marcos administration is planning to borrow P2.207 trillion from offshore and local banks to help bridge the government’s projected budget deficit amounting to P1.1453 trillion.
As of January 2023, the national government’s outstanding debt stock stood at P13.698 trillion, up by 14 percent from P12.029 trillion a year ago. Month-on-month, it also rose by 2.1 percent from P13.418
trillion last December.
Based on the Treasury data, 68.5 percent of the total debt portfolio of the government were domestic borrowings, while 31.5 percent was sourced obverses.
