Government borrowings surged 130 percent in the first three months of the year as the country's budget deficit more than doubled to P119.7 billion from a year ago due to weak revenues and accelerated expenditures.

Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed the government incurred a total of P351.29 billion in borrowings from January to March, P198.86 billion more than the P152.43 billion in the same period in 2008.

The government taps debts to plug its budget deficit, which reached P119.7 billion as of the first quarter, roughly 60 percent of the P199.2 billion ceiling set for 2009, higher than the P110 billion target for the period, and more than double the P51.6 billion recorded in the first quarter of last year.

Foreign borrowings quadrupled to P95.68 billion in January to March from P22.36 billion in the same months last year as the government booked foreign commercial borrowings of $1.5 billion.

The government also obtained more official development assistance (ODA) loans from foreign donors such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), among others.

ODA loans in the first three months, which went directly into the budget, included some P9.622 billion from the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for "Food Crisis Response," another P7.056 billion from ADB for the "Government Justice Reform," and P4.63 billion from JBIC for the Development Policy Loan.

The government also took out P2.99 billion worth of project loans from international lenders.

Meanwhile, borrowings from domestic creditors nearly doubled to P255.61 billion in the first quarter from P103.1 billion in the same quarter last year.

The Treasury earlier issued P144.5 billion worth of 5- and 7-year benchmark bonds to retire P136.6 billion worth of existing bonds in January and boost liquidity in the domestic bond market. It also paid P321.8 billion worth of foreign-denominated debts as well as T-bills and T-bonds.

In all, the Treasury said the government borrowed P29.49 billion in the first quarter to finance the budget deficit.

On Wednesday, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the Arroyo administration would increase its foreign borrowings this year to P174.9 billion from the previous estimate of P147.4 billion to plug the ballooning budget deficit.

Tan noted the government has adjusted its borrowing mix this year to 72-28 percent, in favor of local debt, from 75-25 percent previously.

The government wants to source more cheap funds from multilateral development lenders this year but it cannot rule out possible overseas debt issues, he added.