Govt debt payments hit P42.8B in March

Government debt payments increased in March as higher interest payments offset a decrease in amortization, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

A total of P42.801 billion was paid to creditors during the month, up 26.2 percent from the P33.906 billion recorded a year earlier.

Interest payments, which accounted for 85.3 percent of the total, climbed by 32.6 percent to P36.552 billion from P27.549 billion a year ago. Domestic interest payments surged to P26.915 billion, while foreign ones rose to P9.637 billion.


Amortization expenses declined by 1.6 percent to P6.249 billion. Domestic amortization plunged by 26 percent to P344 million, while foreign interest payments went up by 0.22 percent to P5.905 billion.

Year to date, government debt payments rose by 11 percent to P220.179 billion from P198.2 billion a year earlier.

Amortization expenses grew by 11.2 percent to P112.409 billion, while interest payments increased by 10.9 percent to P107.77 billion.

The government’s outstanding debt stood at P7.802 trillion in March, up over P350 billion from a month ago as local and foreign borrowings increased.


Last year, the government forwarded P775.589 billion to creditors, a 13.9-percent increase from the P680.466 billion registered in 2017.


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