The national government’s total debt payments in the first half of the year amounted to P458.36 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 June is 40.76 percent lower than the P773.7 billion paid out in the same period a year ago.
Amortization declined by 64.41 percent to P201.14 billion from the P565.17 billion paid out in the same period a year ago.
Of the total principal payments made during the period, P153.38 billion was used to pay local lenders while P47.76 billion was spent to settle foreign obligations.
Meanwhile, interest payments as of June totaled to P257.22 billion, 23.34 percent higher than the P208.53 billion paid out as of the same period the previous year.
Of the said amount, P205.69 billion was paid to domestic creditors while P51.53 billion was for international debt.
In June alone, debt payments amounted to P44.29 billion, 70.51 percent down from the year ago level of P150.2 billion.
Amortization declined 93.74 percent to P7.53 billion while interest payments rose 22.81 percent to P36.75 billion.
The BTr earlier said interest payments for June recorded an increase partly due to the effect of monetary policy adjustments on the reissuance of government securities.
The BTr data also showed that the national government’s gross borrowings in the first half of the year declined by 44.61 percent, breaching the trillion mark for that period.
The government’s gross borrowings in January to June amounted to P1.07 trillion, lower than the P1.93 trillion raised a year ago.
Gross domestic borrowings for the period accounted for the bigger chunk amounting to P741.26 billion, down 55.02 percent from the year ago level of P1.65 trillion.
Gross external borrowings for the period rose by 15.58 percent to P329.34 billion from P284.95 billion a year ago. – Angela Celis
