The national government’s total debt payments in the first five months of the year amounted to P414.07 billion, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to the latest cash operations report, the national government’s debt payments in January to May is 33.6 percent lower than the P623.6 billion paid out in the same period a year ago.
Amortization declined by 56.49 percent to P193.61 billion from the P444.99 billion paid out in the same period a year ago.
Of the total principal payments made during the period, P153.02 billion was used to pay local lenders while P40.59 billion was spent to settle foreign obligations.
Meanwhile, interest payments as of May totaled to P220.46 billion, 23.43 percent higher than the P178.61 billion paid out as of the same period the previous year.
Of the said amount, P172.36 billion was paid to domestic creditors while P48.11 billion was for international debt.
In May alone, debt payments rose by 51.97 percent to P57.44 billion from the P37.8 billion paid out a year ago.
Interest payments amounted to P33.83 billion while principal payments totaled to P23.61 billion.
The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s gross borrowings five months into the year declined by 47.64 percent to P924.43 billion compared with the P1.77 trillion raised a year ago.
Gross domestic borrowings for the period accounted for the bigger chunk amounting to P644.82 billion, down 57.37 percent from the year ago level of P1.51 trillion.
Gross external borrowings rose by 10.5 percent to P279.61 billion from P253.04 billion a year ago.
