MANILA, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' debt rose to 13.70 trillion pesos (roughly 248.89 billion U.S. dollars) as of end-January 2023, an increase of 2.1 percent from total outstanding debt recorded in end-December 2022, due to the net availment of domestic and external debt, the Philippine Bureau of Treasury said on Tuesday.
Of the total debt stock, the bureau said 31.5 percent was sourced externally, while 68.5 percent were domestic borrowings.
The bureau added the country's external debt amounted to 4.31 trillion pesos (roughly 78.35 billion dollars), or 2.4 percent higher than the December external debt.
"The increase in the external obligation for January was brought on by the 186.56 billion pesos (roughly 3.39 billion dollars) net availment of foreign loans and 10.36 billion pesos (roughly 188.3 million dollars) impact of third currency adjustments against the U.S. dollar," the bureau added.
However, the bureau said the peso appreciation reduced the value of foreign currency-denominated debt by 93.84 billion pesos (roughly 1.7 billion dollars). ■
