Gov’t debt payment down 53% in July

The national government settled P47.21 billion in debt in July, less than half of the obligations paid a year ago, as principal payments declined.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed the combined amortization and interest payments in July dropped 53 percent from P99.66 billion during the same month last year.

The amount paid for amortization was cut to P2.37 billion from P55.03 billion a year ago.

Domestic amortization, which reflected actual principal repayments to creditors, including those serviced by the Bond Sinking Fund, amounted to P273 million.

Foreign amortization, which included prepayments made due to bond exchange transactions, reached P2.1 billion.

Interest payments, meanwhile, inched up to P44.84 billion from July last year’s P44.63 billion.

Total debt servicing as of end-July declined to P463.11 billion from P478.03 billion in the same seven-month period last year.

From January to July, the government paid P252.76 billion in amortization, on top of P210.35 billion in interest.

For 2018, the government had programmed to service debt worth P682.5 billion, smaller than the P705 billion paid the previous year.

This year, the government has to pay P353.4 billion in interest payments and P329.1 billion in principal amortization.

Under the proposed cash-based national budget for 2019, debt servicing was allocated a lower P414.1 billion. —BEN O. DE VERA