The national government’s gross borrowings in January to August rose by 17.36 percent year-on-year as domestic financing registered a double-digit increase.

According to the latest cash operations report posted on the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) website, the government’s gross borrowings in the first eight months of the year jumped to P1.93 trillion from the P1.65 trillion recorded a year ago.

Gross domestic borrowings for the period accounted for the bigger chunk amounting to P1.65 trillion, up 31.78 percent from the year ago level of P1.25 trillion.

Of the said amount, P904.21 billion is in fixed rate treasury bonds, while P161.7 billion was accounted for by treasury bills.

Also, P584.86 billion was raised in February through the retail treasury bonds offer.

Meanwhile, the BTr data showed that gross external borrowings for the period fell by 28.41 percent to P282.46 billion from P394.56 billion a year ago.

Project loans totaled to P66.72 billion while P100.5 billion was from program loans.

The government also raised P115.25 billion from its dual-tranche global dollar bond offering in May.

For the month alone, the government recorded gross financing of P174.03 billion, 40.29 percent up from the year ago level of P124.06 billion.

Gross domestic borrowings amounted to P167.05 billion while foreign borrowings stood at P6.99 billion.

The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s budget deficit narrowed in August as government spending inched down year-on-year.

According to the latest cash operations report, the national government incurred a P54.2 billion budget deficit in August 2024, lower by 59.24 percent or P78.8 billion compared with the P133 billion shortfall incurred a year ago. 

The government saw a lower budget deficit for the month amid the 24.4 percent growth in government revenues, while expenditures saw a 0.68 percent contraction. 

This trimmed the year-to-date budget deficit of P697 billion by 4.86 percent from the P732.5 billion budget gap in the previous year, equivalent to 46.95 percent of the P1.5 trillion full-year program for 2024.

The government is eyeing to generate funds amounting to P310 billion in the last quarter of the year, through its regular issuance of treasury bills and treasury bonds.

According to a memorandum posted by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) yesterday, the government is looking to raise P220 billion via its treasury bills auction in October to December, and P90 billion by offering treasury bonds.

The treasury bills, which will be offered every Monday, will have a program of P20 billion per auction in the first eight weeks of the quarter.

The offer size will be reduced to P15 billion per auction for the succeeding four weeks.

For the treasury bonds, the government has programmed volumes of offering ranging from P15 billion to P45 billion per auction.

The sale of the government’s longer-term securities is held every Tuesday.

In October, the BTr is set to auction treasury bonds with tenors of five, seven and 10 years.

For November 2024, the BTr will auction five- and 20-year bonds.

Lastly, in December, there will be an auction for 10-year IOUs. 

As per tradition, there will be no treasury bills and bonds offer in the second half of December to give way to the Christmas holidays. 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has kept its growth forecasts for the Philippines, while it expects inflation to ease this year and next.

In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) September 2024 report, ADB maintained its growth outlook for the Philippine economy at six percent for 2024 and 6.2 percent in 2025. 

The report said the expansion is underpinned by broad-based domestic demand supported by a moderation in inflation and monetary easing, while sustained public investment, with its high multipliers, continues to lift growth. 

The multilateral agency lowered its inflation forecast to 3.6 percent this year from its April estimate of 3.8 percent reflecting the sustained deceleration in food prices partly due to lower tariffs on rice imports. 

Inflation is seen to ease further to 3.2 percent in 2025 compared to the previous estimate of 3.4 percent.

“Most of the ingredients for the Philippines’ sustained economic growth are in place–rising government revenues are boosting public expenditures on infrastructure and social services, increasing employment is driving consumption and reforms to open the economy to more investments are underway,” said ADB Philippines country director Pavit Ramachandran.

“With inflation slowing, the country is in a strong position to lead growth in Southeast Asia,” Ramachandran added.

However, the Manila-based agency said risks remain from potential severe weather events which could drive inflation higher. 

External factors such as a sharper slowdown in major advanced economies and the People’s Republic of China, financial volatility due to US monetary policy decisions, geopolitical tensions and rising global commodity prices also pose threats to growth, the report said. 

The national government’s budget deficit narrowed in August as government spending inched down year-on-year.

According to the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) latest cash operations report released yesterday, the national government incurred a P54.2 billion budget deficit in August 2024, lower by 59.24 percent or P78.8 billion compared with the P133 billion shortfall incurred a year ago. 

The government saw a lower budget deficit for the month amid the 24.4 percent growth in government revenues, while expenditures saw a 0.68 percent contraction. 

This trimmed the year-to-date budget deficit of P697 billion by 4.86 percent from the P732.5 billion budget gap in the previous year, equivalent to 46.95 percent of the P1.5 trillion full-year program for 2024.

The national government disbursed P440.5 billion in August 2024, reflecting a decline of P3 billion from last year’s P443.6 billion. 

The BTr said this can be partly attributed to the lower total subsidy releases to government corporations, and the sizeable outstanding checks recorded in various departments, such as the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health, during the period.

Outstanding checks represent payments made by line departments for the delivery of goods/services but are not yet presented for encashment at the banks by the concerned contractors or payees.

These remain under the accounts of spending agencies in authorized government depository banks and are not yet considered as actual disbursements.

The cumulative disbursement rose to P3.7 trillion, 11.32 percent higher year-on-year, attaining 64.13 percent of the P5.8 trillion full-year 2024 program.

Meanwhile, total revenue collections grew by P75.8 billion to P386.3 billion in August 2024 from P310.6 billion a year ago, driven by strong non-tax collections. 

The resulting P3 trillion year-to-date collection similarly topped the previous year’s outcome by 15.91 percent and is already 70.1 percent of the P4.3 trillion full-year program for 2024. 

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P238.1 billion in August, which was 11.51 percent above last year’s comparable outturn. 

This pushed the agency’s cumulative collection to P1.9 trillion, outperforming the P1.7 trillion collection logged in the same period a year ago by 12.55 percent.

 The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) collections amounted to P78.5 billion for the month, underscoring a 4.69 percent growth over the P75 billion raised a year ago. 

This drove the BOCs’ 2024 cumulative collections to P614.4 billion, 5.66 percent higher than its January to August 2023 performance.

Non-tax revenues in August reached P66.1 billion, more than thrice last year’s outturn of P18.8 billion, pushing the year-to-date collections to P434.9 billion, equivalent to 96.73 percent of the full-year program of P449.6 billion.

Income collected and generated by the BTr rose to P16.5 billion in August, more than twice its collections in the same period a year ago. 

The increase was primarily driven by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management’s P10 billion settlement of guarantee fee arrears, alongside increased Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. income.

Compared with January to August 2023’s actual collections of P150.1 billion, BTr’s year-to-date income for the current year has similarly improved by 33.46 percent to P200.3 billion.

Collections of other offices, such as other non-tax, including privatization proceeds, fees and charges and grants, in August surged to P49.6 billion, nearly quadrupling last year’s outturn. 

This improved the January to August revenue to P234.6 billion, posting an increase of 89.16 percent compared with the same period in the previous year.