Gov’t debt payment down 19%

The Philippine government spent P195.1 billion in the two months to February to pay its debts, down 19 percent from the P242.3 billion settled in the same period last year, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

The BTr said the government shelled out less for principal payments but more on interest payments in January and February.

During the period, a total of P124.29 billion in principal obligations were paid, including P115.14 billion in domestic debts and P9.16 billion in foreign loans.

The principal payment in those two months was 33 percent lower than the P182.32 billion paid in the same period last year.

Also, the government paid P70.85 billion in interest, covering P41.46 billion on domestic debts and P29.39 billion on foreign borrowings.

Total interest payment for the period was 22 percent higher than the P57.995 billion recorded in the same period of 2011.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said interest charges settled in the first two months increased by P12.9 billion due to the big jump in such payments in January.

The increase in January was tempered by the decrease in February, which was primarily due to a lesser volume of outstanding treasury bonds that had to be settled.

In February, alone, the government paid P60.44 billion in financial obligations, including P45.1 billion in domestic debts and P15.35 billion in foreign loans.

The month’s total was 48 percent lower than the P116.52 billion paid in the same month last year.

Earlier, Abad said interest payments for the whole of 2011 reached P279 billion, declining year-on-year by 5.2 percent.

The budget chief said last year’s spending on interest payments were lower-than-planned by 13.2 percent.

He said the government last year saved as much as P42.6 billion from interest payments because of a lower budget deficit and prudent debt management.

Last month, the government posted a P10.66-billion budget surplus as of February, contrary to expectations, said Abad.

“(The surplus is due to) groundbreaking increases in revenue collections,” he said. “Revenues for the month increased by 49 percent or P39.2 billion due to unprecedented increases in Internal Revenue collections (28.6 percent), Customs collections (20.7 percent) and Treasury income (668 percent).”