MANILA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' outstanding debt fell to 17.47 trillion pesos (about 300.9 billion U.S. dollars) as of August, down 0.5 percent from the previous month, the Bureau of Treasury said Tuesday.
The bureau attributed the decline mainly to the government's full repayment of its largest domestic bond this year, worth 516.34 billion pesos (about 8.9 billion dollars), as well as a stronger peso, which reduced the value of external obligations.
The share of domestic debt to total borrowings rose to 69.2 percent from 68.9 percent in July, reflecting what the bureau described as "a more favorable debt position" as domestic borrowings are less vulnerable to foreign exchange fluctuations.
Domestic debt stood at 12.09 trillion pesos (about 208 billion dollars) in August, while external debt declined to 5.38 trillion pesos (about 92.7 billion dollars).
From January to August, the national government raised 1.84 trillion pesos (about 31.7 billion dollars) in gross domestic financing, including proceeds from the highly subscribed Retail Treasury Bond Tranche 31.
The government's guaranteed debt also dropped to 346.46 billion pesos (about 6 billion dollars) in August, mainly due to the stronger peso. Guaranteed obligations accounted for only 2 percent of total national government debt, the bureau said. ■
