The national government’s debt payments rose by 41.37 percent in the first half of the year, as both amortization and interest payments went up from year ago levels, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to data posted on the BTr’s website, the amount settled in January to June amounted to P773.79 billion, up from the P547.35 billion paid out in the same period in 2020.
Amortization jumped by 57.16 percent, to P565.26 billion from the P359.67 billion paid out in the same period a year ago.
Of the total principal payments made during the period, P405.23 billion was used to pay local lenders while P160.02 billion was spent to settle foreign obligations.
Meanwhile, interest payments as of June totaled to P208.53 billion, 11.11 percent higher than the P187.68 billion paid out as of the same period the previous year.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said in a report posted on its website that the year-on-year increase is in view of the coupon payments for bonds issued for the current and the previous year, and discount from reissuances of fixed rate treasury bonds.
The DBM data also showed that interest payments in the first semester was 19.14 percent lower than the original program of P257.9 billion, generating savings of P49.4 billion.
“Interest payments were below the program resulting from premium and lower rates of fixed rate treasury bonds, rejection of bids, and lower actual interest and foreign exchange rates,” the DBM said.
Of the total interest payments made during the period, P159.34 billion was paid to domestic creditors while P49.2 billion was for international debt.
Meanwhile, for the month of June, debt payments jumped by 336.78 percent, to P150.2 billion from P34.39 billion a year ago.
Amortization amounted to P120.27 billion while interest payments stood at P29.93 billion. – (A. Celis)
