Debt payments hit P483B in first 10 months of 2016

The amount of debt paid by the government as of end-October slightly rose year-on-year to P482.8 billion as the increase in amortization outpaced interest payments.

Total debt payments from January to October exceeded by 0.7 percent the P479.3 billion paid during the same 10-month period last year.

In the first 10 months, the government paid P265.8 billion in interest, down from P271.9 billion a year ago.

The bulk of the interest paid worth P173.3 billion were for domestic debt, mainly through the sale of treasury bills and bonds. The remaining P92.5 billion in interest payments were for foreign borrowings.

During the 10-month period, the government also paid P216.9 billion in amortization, up from P207.5 billion in 2015.

Amortization payments for domestic borrowings amounted to P109.2 billion while P107.8 billion went to foreign obligations.

In October alone, the government settled P42.2 billion in debt, of which P16.1 billion went to interest payments on top of P26.2 billion in amortization.

The debt payments in October were up from P19.8 billion in the same month last year but down from September’s P39.9 billion.

For 2016, the government had allocated P419.3 billion or 14 percent of the P3-trillion national budget into debt servicing.

Last year, the government’s debt payments rose 3.7 percent year-on-year to P534.1 billion as the increase in amortization outpaced the decline in interest paid.