PH debt at P13.42T as of December ‘22

ThePhilippine government closed the year 2022 with a trimmed running debt balance, thanks to a stronger peso and repayment of maturing obligations in December last year, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Thursday showed.

The end-December 2022 outstanding stood at P13.418 trillion, down 1.7% or by P225.31 billion from the end-November 2022 level of P13.644 trillion — which was a record-high.

Year-on-year, the government’s debt stock grew by P1.69 trillion or 14.4% from P11.73 trillion as of end-2021.

Central bank demand surged 152 percent yearon-year to 1,136 tons in 2022, a 55-year record high, the council said, adding “the majority of which was unreported.” Investment demand (excluding over-the-counter) increased 10 percent from a year earlier to 1,107 tons in 2022, led by a notable slowdown in exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows and strong gold bar and coin demand.

“Gold’s diverse demand drivers played a balancing act as rising interest rates prompted some tactical ETF outflows, while ele-

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The Treasury attributed the month-on-month decline in the debt level as of the end of last year “primarily due to the effect of local currency appreciation and the net redemption of domestic government securities.”

The Philippine peso appreciated against the US dollar to P55.815:$1 as of end-December 2022 from P56.598:$1 as of end-November 2022, the BTr noted.

Sought for comment, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the dropped in the running debt balance as of end last year “may have to do with the 1.4% appreciation of the peso that reduced the peso equivalent of US dollar/ foreign debts as well as the large maturities of government securities/Treasury bonds, essentially repayment of some government debts.”

Bulk or 68.62% of the government’s running debt was sourced locally while the remaining 31.38% were foreign borrowings.

Domestic debt

The national government’s domestic debt totaled P9.2 trillion as of end2022, down 2.3% from the end-November 2022 level of P9.43 trillion.

“The lower level of domestic debt was due to the net redemption of government securities amounting to P217.95 billion,” the BTr said.

“Moreover, local currency appreciation against the US dollar trimmed P1.63