According to data from the Bureau of the Treasury, from January to September the government borrowed only P9.73 billion from local and foreign sources, compared with P309.5 billion raised from borrowings for the same period last year.

External borrowings amounted to P60.35 billion from January to September, from P103.16 billion recorded during the same period last year.

The government, however, made a net redemption of P50.62 billion for its domestic debts from last year’s borrowings of P206.21 billion.

Loans from the international donor community for both specific projects and budget support were reduced by 15 percent year-on-year to P41.8 billion for the period from P49.22 billion in the same period in 2010.

The government, meanwhile, raised the equivalent of P119.68 billion in foreign commercial borrowings in the first nine months of the year, which was derived from the issuance of global peso bonds in January of P54.77 billion and in March of P64.91 billion.

For September alone, domestic borrowings included P286 billion worth of Treasury bonds, P103.97 billion worth of retail Treasury bonds that were issued in March, and P30.98 billion issued during the bond exchange in June.

Also in September, the government made net redemptions of P5.7 billion, from P34.7 billion worth of foreign and domestic borrowings in the same month last year.

The government has programmed to borrow about P830.9 billion this year to fund the administration’s budget of P1.645 trillion this year.

For the nine-month period, the government only incurred a budget shortfall of P52.99 billion, well below the deficit ceiling of P234.35 billion for the period.

For next year, the government plans to borrow P727.4 billion, 12 percent lower than this year’s borrowing program.