End-May debt payments up 21% to P329B

The amount of debt paid by the government as of the end of May rose by 21 percent to P329.3 billion from P271.7 billion a year ago on the back of higher amortization payments.

Treasury data showed that payments for amortization jumped by 46 percent to P192.4 billion in the first five months from P131.6 billion in the same period last year.

Domestic debt paid amounted to P152 billion while about P40 billion went to amortization of foreign liabilities.

In May alone, amortization payments reached P46.6 billion, almost triple the P16.2 billion paid a year ago. That month, amortization for domestic obligations hit P41.4 billion, while that for foreign debt reached P5.3 billion.

End-May interest payments slid by 2.3 percent to P136.9 billion from P140.1 billion last year.

For domestic debt, P93.2 billion in interest was paid as of May, while P43.8 billion was for foreign borrowings.

In May, interest payments amounted to P20.6 billion, down 12.7 percent from P23.6 billion in the same month last year. In May, interest paid for domestic liabilities amounted almost P19 billion, while that for foreign obligations was at P1.6 billion.

The government paid P67.3 billion in debt in May, up 69 percent from P39.8 billion a year ago.

In 2014, the government paid P515 billion in debt—the least in over a decade—mainly on the back of record-low amortization payments.

Total debt payments made last year were 7.9 percent lower than the P559 billion paid in 2013.

Not only was the debt servicing done in 2014 below that of the previous year, but it was also the lowest since 2003’s P470 billion in total debt paid.