The national government’s total debt payments soared by 25.88 percent in the first 10 months of 2024, driven by higher amortization and interest payments, according to data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The latest cash operations report revealed that debt payments from January to October reached P1.86 trillion, a significant jump from P1.48 trillion in the same period last year.
Amortization payments surged by 27.42 percent, totaling P1.22 trillion compared to P958.96 billion in the first 10 months of 2023.
Interest payments also increased by 23.03 percent, rising to P638.68 billion from P519.11 billion year-on-year.
In October alone, the government paid P216.85 billion in debt, almost triple the P77.76 billion recorded in the same month last year.
Of this, P161.46 billion went to amortization, while P55.39 billion was allocated for interest payments.
Earlier, the BTr said interest payments for October saw a 6.09 percent decrease from last year’s level, merely due to the normalization in the timing of a September interest obligation which slid to October last year as the actual payment date fell on a weekend.
It was also previously reported that the national government posted a P6.3 billion fiscal surplus in October as the growth in revenues significantly outpaced that of expenditures.
The surplus in October is a reversal of the P34.4 billion deficit recorded a year ago.
Revenue collections accelerated in October with double-digit growth of 22.63 percent, outpacing the 11.08 percent year-on-year increase in expenditures.
Thus, the year-to-date deficit narrowed to P963.9 billion, which stands at only 64.94 percent of the P1.48 trillion full-year program.
“Our fiscal discipline and prudent debt management have recently earned our country a revision on credit rating outlook from “stable” to “positive” from the S&P Global and a series of high-rating affirmations from different global credit rating agencies,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.
“This will enable us to borrow at lower costs, providing more fiscal space to support infrastructure development and other growth-enhancing programs and projects,” she added.
