Gross loans down 16.2% in 2022

Gross borrowing by the national government fell 16.2% last year to 2.16 trillion pesos from 2.58 trillion pesos in 2021, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

Domestic borrowing made up the bulk of 1.64 trillion pesos, according to a full-year report from the Treasury Department, well down from 2.01 trillion pesos a year earlier.

Meanwhile, foreign funding stood at 520.09 billion pesos, also down from 568.7 billion pesos in 2021.

The bulk of domestic borrowing, or 1.19 trillion pesos, came from fixed-rate Treasuries, with another 834.5 billion pesos raised from retail treasuries.

The government also paid off 385.8 billion pesos of Treasury bills.

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In terms of foreign borrowing, 234.26 billion pesos came from two global bond offerings last year, while 28.55 billion pesos were courtesy of the Samurai bond issue.

Loans for programs and projects amounted to 136.6 billion and 120.7 billion pesos, respectively.

Meanwhile, payments to foreign creditors amounted to 130.48 billion pesos.

In December alone, domestic borrowing dropped significantly to 32.9 billion pesos from 236 billion pesos in the same month of 2021.

BTr issued 58 billion pesos of fixed rate bonds, while there was a net redemption of 25 billion pesos of treasury bills.

Gross external borrowing reached 26.5 billion pesos, down from 39.8 billion pesos in December 2021.

The amount was made up of project loans worth 26.4 billion pesos.

The national government ended last year with a total outstanding debt of 13.42 trillion pesos.

That amount increased to 13.70 trillion pesos at the end of January, the Treasury said last week.

Domestic borrowing was 9.38 trillion pesos and external debt was 4.31 trillion pesos.