DESPITE a decline in June, the Philippine government’s debt payments ballooned in the first semester of the year, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The government’s debt service bill in the January-to-June period this year jumped 42.07 percent to P547.347 billion from the previous year’s P385.254 billion.
In June, however, the country’s debt payments contracted 58.97 percent to P34.387 billion from the P83.811 billion posted in the same period last year.
“The higher debt service payment for H1 2020 is mainly due to higher domestic maturities [three year FXTBs and RTB issued in 2017)]and bond exchange as well as external amortization,” Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told BusinessMirror over the weekend. “Domestic IP also increases this year as a result of borrowings in 2019 and for new issuances this year.”
The BTr data showed interest payments increased 4.22 percent to P187.676 billion in the first semester of 2020 from P180.07 billion in the first semester last year.
Amortization also grew 75.29 percent to P359.671 billion in the January-to-June period this year from P205.183 billion in the same period in 2019.
In June, interest payments reached P27.561 billion, a decline of 5.26 percent from the P29.096 billion posted in the same month last year.
Amortization payments contracted 87.52 percent in June 2020 to P6.826 billion, from P54.715 billion in June 2019.
BTr data also showed domestic debt payments reached P24.617 billion and was largely composed of Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs) valued at P13.047 billion followed by Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds worth P8.441 billion.
Domestic debt payments grew 4.98 percent from P23.45 billion in June 2019. Last year, RTBs were valued at P12.582 billion while Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds amounted to P6.624 billion.
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