|
THE
national government paid back more than it borrowed from
foreign creditors in the first four months, the
Department of Finance (DOF) said Tuesday.
Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves, whose position was finally
approved by the powerful Committee on Appointments also
yesterday, has authorized payments that covered P45.31
billion worth of foreign debts during the period.
The
amount was 148 percent more than the P18.2 billion in
payments a year earlier.
Total
foreign borrowings for the period reached only P39.44
billion from P93.316 billion in the same period last
year.
As a
result, the government paid foreign creditors P5.87
billion on net basis in the first four months of the
year, Teves said.
These
were project loan obligations
Manila
owed the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, Japan
Bank for International Cooperation, as well as the
Organization of Oil Exporting Countries.
Part of
the foreign borrowings from January to April was a
program loan from the ADB, and the dollar-denominated
bonds sold in February.
On the
domestic front, Teves was a net borrower during the
period. He paid local creditors P142.405 billion and
borrowed P160.299 billion.
Teves’s
gross borrowing activities for the period involved the
sale of Treasury bills and bonds with maturities of up
to 25 years.
Gross
proceeds from fixed-rate Treasury bonds during the
period totaled P47.644 billion, while P2.957 billion
worth of bonds were redeemed.
Also
sold during the period was P306.047 billion worth of
T-bills, compared with P190.435 billion redeemed that
made the government a net seller of T-bills totaling
P115.612 billion. Teves aims to cut further the extent
of indebtedness of the national government that in 2007
equaled 63.1 percent of the gross domestic product
(GDP).
Latest
data show the national government debt was equal to 57.4
percent of GDP as of January 31. |
