Gov’t debt payments nearly double in April

MANILA, Philippines — The national government’s spending for debt payments almost doubled in April as both amortization and interest payments increased during the month, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

According to the latest cash operations report of the BTr, the national government settled P53.84 billion of its debt last April, 93.35 percent higher than the P27.85 billion recorded in the same month last year.

This brought the government’s total debt service to P274.02 billion from January to April, 21.22 percent up from P226.05 billion in the same four-month period in 2018.

The government allots a portion of its budget to settle its obligations on a monthly basis, depending on their maturity.

Based on Treasury data, the bulk or P30.30 billion of the total debt payments last April went to amortization, while the remaining P23.54 billion went to interest payments.

Principal payments, for their part, jumped by almost 6.5 times from the P4.67 billion in the same month last year.

The Treasury said P25.95 billion of the total principal payments went to domestic lenders, while the remaining P4.35 billion was paid to external creditors.

Year-to-date, amortization reached P142.71 billion, up 35 percent from P105.71 billion in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, interest payments last April inched up by 1.57 percent to P23.54 billion from P23.17 billion a year ago.

The BTr, in an earlier statement, attributed this increase to the coupon payment for Treasury bonds issued last year.

Cumulative interest payments in the first four months also grew by 9.12 percent to P131.31 billion from P120.33 billion last year.

“For the period January to April, interest payments accounted for 13.1 percent of expenditures and 13.2 percent of revenues, up from last year’s 11.6 percent and 13 percent, respectively,” the Treasury said.

Debt payments form part of the government’s expenditures.

In 2018, the national government settled P775.59 billion in debt, almost 14 percent higher than P680.47 billion in 2017.

The amount was 5.7 percent higher compared to the P733.74 billion programmed by the government for debt service, as indicated in the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BSEF) document of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

For 2019, the national government is programmed to spend P887.91 billion for debt service, based on the 2019 BESF. This is 14.5 percent higher than the actual debt payments made last year.