By Chino S. Leyco

The national government’s outstanding nominal debt rose by double-digits in July this year owing to higher borrowings from the local market and the stronger US dollar, the Bureau of the Treasury said yesterday.

At end-July this year, the national government’s total debt stock in the domestic and offshore markets settled at P7.043 trillion, up by 10 percent compared with P6.385 trillion in the same month last year.

Of the total debt, 65.32 percent was borrowed domestically, while the remaining 34.68 percent was sourced from external lenders.

Domestic debt amounted to P4.6 trillion as of July, an increase of 11 percent from P4.146 trillion a year before, while foreign obligations jumped 9.1 percent year-on-year to P2.443 trillion from P2.238 trillion.

In July, the peso weakened to P53.16 against the US dollar from P50.5 in the same month last year.

Month-on-month, the national government’s debt also rose by slightly 0.4 percent from P7.016 trillion in June due to net availments on both domestic and foreign obligations.

Domestic debt increased by 0.5 percent during the month from P4.579 trillion owing to the net issuance of government securities amounting to P21.57 billion, but was slightly tempered by the stronger peso.

According to the Treasury, the stronger local currency, which averaged at P53.4 against the greenback, diminished the value of onshore dollar bonds by P0.12 billion.

External debt also rose by 0.20 percent month-on-month in July from P2.437 trillion due to net availments of foreign loans amounting to P20.68 billion.

The Treasury also said that the increase was offset by currency fluctuations on both dollar and third-currency denominated debt amounting to P11.14 billion and P3.60 billion, respectively.

Total national government guaranteed obligations, meanwhile, decreased by 0.90 percent month-on-month to P483.90 billion in July.

The reduction in guarantees was due to the net redemption of both domestic and external guarantees amounting to P1.14 billion and P0.21 billion, respectively.

The decline was also attributed to the currency fluctuations on both dollar and third-currency denominated guarantees amounting to P1.36 billion and P1.55 billion, respectively.