Debt payments up 10% to P325 B in H1

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine debt payments grew 10 percent with principal payments rising in the first half of the year, Bureau of Treasury (BTr) data showed.

Debt payments reached P324.81 billion in the first half of the year, P29.2 billion higher from P295.62 billion in same period last year.

Data from the BTr showed principal payments climbed 24 percent to P168.69 billion from P135.88 billion, while interest payments fell two percent to P156.12 billion from P159.74 billion.

Almost three-fourths of the principal payments were made for domestic borrowings at P124.14 billion, while the rest were for debt from foreign sources at P44.55 billion.

The same trend was observed for interest payments as bulk or P108.91 billion were for domestic debt and P47.21 billion were made for foreign liabilities.

For June alone, debt payments were unchanged at P23.87 billion from the same period last year.

BTr data showed interest payments during the month slid two percent to P19.20 billion from P19.62 billion a year ago.

Interest payments for domestic borrowings decreased three percent to P15.74 billion from P16.15 billion, while those made for foreign debt also declined to P3.45 billion from P3.46 billion.

Principal payments in June grew 10 percent to P4.67 billion from P4.25 billion last year. All of these payments were made for foreign borrowings.

The government borrows to augment revenue collections and to fund social services and economic development programs and projects.

Latest data showed outstanding government debt rose three percent to P5.82 trillion in June from P5.65 trillion in the same month last year.

This was made up of P3.84 trillion in loans from domestic creditors and P1.98 trillion from external sources.