The national government’s total debt payments in the first seven months of the year jumped by 40.28 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 July stood at P1.36 trillion, higher than the P972.29 billion recorded during the same period a year ago.

Amortization rose by 44.87 percent, to P907.3 billion from the P626.28 billion paid out in January to July 2023.

On the other hand, interest payments as of July totaled to P456.66 billion, which went up 31.98 percent from the P346 billion paid out as of the same period in the previous year.

In July alone, debt payments amounted to P81.17 billion, up 26.13 percent from the year ago level of P64.34 billion.

Amortization amounted to P1.74 billion, while interest payments totaled to P79.43 billion.

The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s budget deficit narrowed in the month of July due to the double-digit growth in revenues.

The budget deficit for July 2024 declined by 39.67 percent year-on-year to P28.8 billion, driven by faster revenue growth of 11.09 percent compared to the 5.8 percent increase in expenditures.

The resulting year-to-date budget gap stood at P642.8 billion, up by 7.21 percent from the same period last year.