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THE government incurred lower borrowings in the first four months
this year due to an improvement in its fiscal position, Department
of Finance data showed.
Gross borrowings declined to P199.79 billion at
end-April this year, compared with P252.959 billion in the same
period last year.
These consist of external and domestic
borrowings of P39.440 billion and P160.299 billion, respectively.
The government took on more locally sourced IOUs
to support debt payments of P142.405 billion. By maturity, the
government borrowed P115.612 billion in Treasury bills, and P44.687
billion in T-bonds. T-bills mature in one year or less, while
T-bonds are longer-term obligations.
Of the debts sourced from abroad, project loans
from foreign donors reached P5.228 billion, including P13.933
billion from the Asian Development Bank. Apart from donor aid, the
government also sold bonds, called ROPs (Republic of the
Philippines), worth P20.279 billion. Total payments reached P45.310
billion.
In April alone, gross borrowings reached P45.478
billion, consisting of external borrowings of P15.258 billion and
local debts of P30.22billion.
The government enjoyed a budget surplus of P25.8
billion that month, or more than double the P12 billion surplus last
year.
Last month’s revenue surplus allowed the
government to cut its four-month deficit to P25.8 billion from P51.6
billion last year.
Improvements in its fiscal position will provide
more headroom for critical investments in infrastructure without
adding onto its debt, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said.
In the medium term, the government aims to
increase capital spending to between 4.6 percent and 5 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010 from the present 2.7 percent.
“We need to intensify our efforts to improve
collection efficiency to generate the needed resources to spend more
on social programs and address infrastructure bottlenecks,” Teves
said.
The government plans to trim its debt to GDP
ratio to 51.7 percent this year from 55.7 percent last year, and its
interest payments to 22.8 percent of total revenues from 23.5
percent previously.
“A stronger tax effort will better position
the government in overcoming the adverse impact from expected
downside risks, including a sharper slowdown in the US economy and
the surge in oil and food prices,” Teves said.
At end-April, revenues grew 20.6 percent
year-on-year to P122.0 billion while expenditures stood at P96.3
billion.
-- Maricel E. Burgonio
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