The national government’s total debt payments in the first five months of the year jumped 48.47 percent as both amortization and interest payments rose from the previous year’s level, 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 stood at P1.22 trillion, higher than the P819.53 billion recorded during the same period a year ago.
Amortization rose by 51.73 percent, to P895.13 billion from the P589.95 billion paid out in January to May 2023.
Interest payments as of May totaled to P321.59 billion, which went up 40.08 percent from the P229.57 billion paid out as of the same period the previous year.
In May alone, debt payments amounted to P68.98 billion, also up 40.64 percent from the year ago level of P49.05 billion.
Amortization amounted to P7.88 billion, posting a 2.34 percent increase from the P7.7 billion in the same period last year.
Interest payments meanwhile totaled to P61.1 billion, 47.78 percent up from the May 2023 level of P41.34 billion.
According to the BTr, the growth in interest payments was due to the additional debt incurred last year and higher interest rates of both domestic and foreign borrowings.
The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s budget deficit widened in May as the acceleration in public spending outpaced the increase in revenues.
The shortfall reached P174.9 billion in May 2024, up by 43.1 percent compared to the previous year’s level of P122.2 billion.
Expenditures jumped by 22.24 percent, much faster than the 14.59 percent increase in revenues.
Consequently, the cumulative budget deficit for the five-month period widened to P404.8 billion, which is 24.06 percent higher than the P326.3 billion recorded during the same period in 2023.
