Metro Manila, Philippines — The Philippines’ outstanding debt went up again in August as the peso continued to depreciate against the dollar, the Bureau of the Treasury said Monday.
In a statement, the agency said debt stock reached ₱14.35 trillion as of August, up by 0.7% or ₱105.28 billion from the prior month.
“[It] was primarily due to the peso depreciating from 54.834 to 56.651 against the US dollar over the reference period,” the treasury said.
Year-on-year, the debt ballooned by more than ₱1.32 trillion
The majority or 68.2% of the borrowings were from local sources.
Data showed that domestic debt stood at ₱9.79 trillion, a slight dip from a month ago “due to large retail bond maturities.”
External debt, on the other hand, climbed by 2.9% to ₱4.56 trillion because of the weakening of the peso.
“Peso depreciation against the US dollar caused a ₱146.85 billion upward revaluation of US dollar-denominated debt in August, although partially offset by the ₱22.11 billion downward revaluation of the third-currency debt component,” the treasury explained.
Since the end of 2022, the country’s external borrowings already went up by 8.3% or ₱347.98 billion.
