THE national government’s debt service in the first half nearly doubled year-on-year to over P900 billion owing to higher amortization payments that tripled during the reference period, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
Latest Treasury data showed that during the six-month period the Marcos Jr. administration paid P907.927 billion in combined amortization and interest payments.
The amount was 98 percent higher than the P458.355 billion recorded by the state in the January-to-June period of 2022.
Treasury data showed that bulk or about 70 percent of the debt service went to amortization payments while the remaining 30 percent went to interest payments.
Amortization payments expanded by 210.96 percent year-on-year to P625.469 billion from P210.140 billion, based on Treasury data.
Broken down, domestic amortization accounted for nearly 90 percent of the total payments while external amortization accounted for the remainder.
The state’s domestic amortization payments more than tripled to P561.421 billion from P153.377 billion a year ago. Meanwhile, external amortization payments rose by P16.285 billion to P64.048 billion from P47.763 billion last year, according to the Treasury.
Treasury data also showed that the national government’s interest payments rose by almost 10 percent in the first half to P282.458 billion from P257.215 billion last year.
Domestic interest payments accounted for 68 percent of the total payments as it reached P192.884 billion. The amount, however, was 6.22 percent lower than the P205.687 billion recorded domestic interest payments in the first half of last year.
The domestic interest payments by the national government were broken down as follows: Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds (P108.366 billion), Retail Treasury Bonds (P74.731 billion), Treasury Bills (P6.709 billion) and others (P3.078 billion).
Interest payments to foreign sources rose by 73.83 percent to P89.574 billion from P51.528 billion last year, based on Treasury data.
For this year, the national government has programmed a P1.552-trillion debt service expenditure, which comprises a P610.665 billion in interest payments and P941.353 billion in principal amortization payments.
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H1 debt service up 98% on amortization—BTr
Source: News Paper Radio
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