THE national government’s debt payments for the month of April hit P53.840 billion, or a 93.3-percent increase compared to April 2018, as amortization outpaced interest payments, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Data from the BTr showed the government disbursed P53.840 billion for the payment of some of its debt for April, much higher than last year’s level of P27.846 billion.
Broken down, amortization of P30.304 billion showed an expansion of 548.3 percent from the P4.674 billion made last year; while interest payments of P23.536 billion posted a slight uptick of 1.6 percent from last year’s P23.172 billion.
Under amortization, agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) were allotted P344 million while the bond sinking fund (BSF) received P25.649 billion in the local front.
For domestic interest payments, Treasury bills were paid P1.249 billion, fixed rate Treasury bonds P8.954 billion, and retail Treasury bonds P6.265 billion.
4-month period
In the January-to-April period, the government made a total of P274.019 billion in payments for some of its debt, a level that is 21.22 percent higher than the P226.046 billion recorded in the same period for 2018.
Amortization during the four-month period amounted to P142.713 billion, an increase of 35 percent from last year’s P105.712 billion. Interest payments hit P131.306 billion, or an uptick of 9.1 percent from the P120.334 billion recorded last year.
The Department of Finance (DOF) had pointed out in May that the country’s level of debt will continue declining, as recorded debt ratios for the first quarter of 2019 showed decreases, on the back of a more proactive debt management under the Duterte administration.
The DOF economic bulletin said the proactive debt management of the government enabled it to maintain a continuously decreasing debt level which led to a more expanded fiscal space. Fears of a forthcoming debt crisis are unfounded, it said.
“Proactive debt management has afforded the Philippines an expanded fiscal space as the level of debt has declined significantly from 87.2 percent of GDP [gross domestic product] in 2006 to 41.8 percent in 2018, [posting] a 45.4-percentage point decline,” the DOF said.