The national government’s gross borrowings in October soared by almost 1,320 percent to over P663 billion compared to the P50.27 billion recorded in the same month last year, as the country’s economy got battered by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

 Data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that of the P663 billion, domestic financing accounted for P639.04 billion, which is a whopping 1,344-percent higher than the P47.52 billion in October 2019.

The BTr said domestic borrowings were sourced from the issuance of P29.99-billion and P69.04-billion worth of Treasury bills and fixed-rate bonds, respectively.

As for external financing also for October, this reached P24.69 billion or a 780-percent increase over the P2.74 billion a year ago. Total external borrowings in October was sourced from P4.41-billion worth of project loans and P19.75-billion from program loans.

In the first 10 months of the year, the government’s gross borrowings reached P3.22 trillion.

However, the P3.22 trillion included ” central bank’s advances, which we paid and proceeds from the switch program,” according to the BTr head Rosalia de Leon.

“So we have not exceeded [the P3 trillion borrowing] program,” she added.

In March, the national government and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) entered into a repurchase agreement worth P300 billion, where the BSP purchased P300 billion worth of government securities from the Bureau of Treasury that was settled by the government last September.

 This means that for the 10 months of the year, actual government borrowings was at P2.7 trillion.

For full-year 2020, the government plans to borrow P3 trillion from domestic and external sources this year, which is 195-percent higher than 2019’s P1.01 trillion. CURRENTPH