MANILA - The Philippines’ national government debt further climbed to P11.92 trillion at the end of September, up 27.2 percent from the same month last year, the Bureau of Treasury said on Friday.

During the same month last year, total debt stood at P9.37 trillion, which means the country added P2.55 trillion in 12 months.

In September alone, the country’s total debt increased by P274.53 billion or 2.4 percent due to net issuance of both domestic and external debt and peso depreciation against the US dollar, Treasury said.

Since the start of the year, the Philippines has added P2.12 trillion to its obligations.

This year alone, the country added P1.69 trillion to its domestic obligations, and P428.98 billion to its foreign debt.

“Of the total debt stock, 29.6 percent was sourced externally while 70.4 percent were domestic borrowings,” Treasury said.

Domestic debt amounted to P8.39 trillion, while foreign debt totaled P3.53 trillion.

In 5 years and 3 months, the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has more than doubled the country's debt from P5.95 trillion at the end of June 2016.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has said that the government expects to borrow P3 trillion this year, and P2.25 trillion next year.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is also projected to slightly increase to 60 percent in 2022 from the programmed 59 percent ratio in 2021.

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• Philippines books P1.14 trillion budget deficit from Jan-Sept, up 29.6 percent

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