MANILA: The Philippine government said on Monday it plans to borrow up to 1.19 trillion pesos ($22.3 billion) to partly finance next year’s budget, with a quarter of that expected to be met from external sources.

The 2019 borrowing programme is about 20 percent higher than this year’s 996 billion pesos, figures released by National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon showed.

The government plans to borrow up to 294.2 billion pesos from external sources and raise 891.7 billion pesos from the domestic market for next year’s spending, she told reporters.

The Philippines is looking to raise as much as $2 billion via bond issues denominated in yen and US dollars before the year ends, but these are part of the 2018 financing programme.

De Leon said a euro bond issue is “another option we can explore for financing,” but gave no other details about external borrowing plans for next year’s budget. President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration is rolling out a massive $180 billion “Build Build Build” programme to construct new roads, bridges, railways, airports and seaports during his six-year term that ends in 2022.—Reuters