The National Government (NG)'s total outstanding debt reached P13.91 trillion as of end-April from P13.86 in March, the Bureau of Treasury said Wednesday.

Outstanding debt increased by P54.24 billion or 0.4 percent from the previous month, which was a record high, due to the net issuance of external debt and local currency depreciation against the US dollar.

Of the total debt stock, 32 percent was sourced externally while 68 percent were domestic borrowings.

NG domestic debt amounted to P9.46 trillion, P55.32 billion or 0.6 percent lower compared to the end-March level due to the net redemption of domestic securities amounting to P57.79 billion.

This was slightly offset by the P2.47 billion effect on onshore foreign currency-denominated securities caused by peso depreciation against the US dollar.

From the end-December 2022 level, NG domestic debt has increased by P249.45 billion or 2.7 percent.

NG’s external debt amounted to P4.45 trillion, P109.56 billion or 2.5 percent higher from the previous month.

For April, the increment to external debt was due to the P27.98 billion net availment of external loans and P94.28 billion impact of local-currency

depreciation against the US dollar.

On the other hand, third-currency adjustments against the US dollar trimmed P12.30 billion from the peso value of foreign currency debt.

NG external debt has increased by P242.83 billion or 5.8 percent from the end-December 2022 level.

Total NG guaranteed obligations decreased by P3.42 billion or 0.9 percent month-over-month to P380.69 billion as of end-April 2023.

For the month, the lower level of guaranteed debt was due to the net repayment of domestic guarantees amounting to P5.51 billion and third-currency adjustments amounting to P1.87 billion.

These were tempered by the impact of local currency depreciation amounting to P3.95 billion.

From the end-December 2022 level, NG guaranteed debt has decreased by

P18.35 billion or 4.6 percent. DMS