MANILA - The government's total borrowings eased slightly in the first 6 months of the year as it paid more maturing debts amidst the country's worsening fiscal condition.

Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed that the government borrowed P237.18 million as of end-June, a 2.3% drop from P242.76 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The government tapped less funds from domestic creditors in the first half due to the redemption of more maturing treasury bills. For the 6-month period, the government's total local borrowings plunged 32.4% to P133.9 billion from P198.17 billion last year.

The treasury redeemed P426.37 billion worth of 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills, but issued only P334.92 billion worth of the same government papers from January to June this year. However, it issued P217.49 billion worth of 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, and 20-year treasury bonds during the same period.

Aside from this, it also issued P144.5 billion worth of 5- and 7-year benchmark bonds as it retired P136.6 billion worth of existing bonds in January to boost the liquidity of the domestic bond market.

Meanwhile, the government's foreign borrowings rose 131.4% to P103.19 billion as of end-June from P44.59 billion last year. In the same period, the government doubled its foreign commercial borrowings to $1.5 billion from $750 million to plug the country's ballooning budget deficit.
 
The government also issued $750 million worth of 10-year global-denominated bonds this month, also to finance the country's swelling budget gap targeted at P250 billion this year.

Moreover, it sourced more loans from multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, among others.
 
Program loans, bulk of which went to food crisis and judicial reform measures, grew 53% in the first 6 months to P21.31 billion from P13.93 billion. On the other hand, lending agencies extended P10.49 billion in project loans in the first half, a 1.2% growth from P10.37 billion in 2008. -abs-cbnNEWS.com