Gov’t debt payment as of end-Nov 2016 hits P511.7B

The amount of debt paid by the government as of end-November last year inched up 1.2 percent year-on-year to P511.7 billion as the increase in amortization outpaced the decline in interest payments.

Total debt payments from January to November exceeded the P505.8 billion paid during the same 11-month period in 2015.

In the first 11 months of 2016, the government paid P285.4 billion in interest, down from P287.9 billion a year ago.

The bulk of the interest paid worth P190.7 billion was for domestic debt, mainly through the sale of Treasury bills and bonds. The remaining P94.6 billion in interest payments was for foreign borrowings.

During the 11-month period, the government also paid P226.4 billion in amortization, up from P217.9 billion in 2015.

Amortization payments for local borrowings amounted to P112.2 billion, while P114.1 billion went to foreign debt payments.

In November alone, the government settled P28.9 billion in debt, of which P19.6 billion went to interest payments on top of P9.4 billion in amortization.

The debt payments in November were up from P26.5 billion during the same month in 2015 but down from October’s P42.2 billion.

For 2016, the government had allocated P419.3 billion or 14 percent of the P3.002-trillion national budget for debt servicing.

In 2015, 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. —BEN O. DE VERA