MANILA - State borrowings increased by 7.6% in the first nine months of the year as the government sought funds to finance the ballooning budget deficit.

Latest data from the Bureau of Treasury showed that government borrowings rose to P421.2 billion during January to September this year from P391.4 billion in the same months last year.

Of the amount, P168.2 billion were foreign borrowings, representing a 227.9% increase from last year's P51.3 billion.

The government sold $1.5 billion in dollar bonds in January and another $750 million in July.

Aside from commercial borrowings, the government also sourced more official development assistance loans from multilateral lenders, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, among others.

Meanwhile, the government's domestic borrowings declined by 25.6% to P252.9 billion from P340.1 billion a year ago as it settled debt papers it issued in the past.

A total of P567.4 billion worth of short-dated debt papers were settled in January to September while P403.8 billion in fresh treasury bills or T-bills were issued, resulting in a net issuance of P163.6 billion. Some P294.2 billion in three-, five-, seven-, 10- and 20-year treasury bonds were also issued.

The government has been increasing its borrowings to be able to spend more to stimulate the economy amid dwindling revenues.

The budget deficit has already risen to P237.5 billion from January to September, 345% more than the P53.4 billion deficit incurred in the same period last year and just P12.5 billion shy of the full-year ceiling of P250 billion.

In September alone, the deficit hit P27.5 billion or 27.2% higher than the P21.6 billion deficit incurred in the same month last year.