Govt debt payments down in Aug
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:28:14 +0000
DEBT servicing by the national government dropped to P31.58 billion in August on the back of lower interest payments and amortization expenses, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Tuesday.
Treasury data showed that the August amount was a 73.42-percent decrease from the P118.83 billion recorded in the same month last year.
Interest payments, which accounted for 62.09 percent of the total, fell by 30.70 percent to P19.61 billion from P28.30 billion a year ago.
Domestic interest payments recorded a 47.70-percent drop during the month. Foreign interest payments fell by 3.20 percent to P10.46 billion.
Amortization expenses, meanwhile, declined by 86.77 percent to P11.97 billion from P90.53 billion a year ago.
Domestic amortization fell to P8.78 billion, while that for foreign dropped to P3.18 billion.
Year-to-date, debt payments fell by 12.48 percent to P509.29 billion from P581.93 billion in the same period in 2018.
The government’s outstanding debt stood at P7.93 trillion as of end-August, P135.03 billion or 1.73-percent higher than the previous month from the peso depreciation and net issuances of both external and domestic loans, according to BTr.
Last year, the government paid P775.589 billion to creditors, a 13.9-percent increase from P680.466 billion in 2017.