Debt payments surged by 208% to P78.387B in May

The amount of debt paid by the government in May tripled to P78.387 billion as both amortization and interest payments rose.

Debt payments last May jumped 208 percent from P25.491 billion in the same month a year ago, the latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed.

In May, the government paid P20.966 billion in interest, up from P18.658 billion last year.

Interest payments worth P18.746 billion were settled for domestic debt, mainly from the issuance of treasury bills and bond.

The remaining P2.22 billion in interest payments was for foreign borrowings.

The government also paid P57.421 billion in amortization in April, up 740 percent from P6.833 billion a year ago.

For local liabilities, April principal payments reached P50.9 billion; as for foreign debt, amortization payments amounted P6.521 billion.

But at the end of the first five months, the government paid P353.326 billion in debt, down from P484.583 billion as of May last year.

For 2017, the government had programmed to pay P647.278 billion in debt, of which P334.876 billion will go to interest payments while P312.403 billion will be for principal amortization.