THE national government shelled out nearly P119 billion as payment for some of its debt for the month of August, with amortization outpacing interest payments, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to the BTr data, the government has shelled out P118.836 billion for the month of August in line with debt servicing. The amount is 62.42 percent higher than the payments the national government made during the same month last year of P73.168 billion.
Broken down, amortization accounted for P90.535 billion, while interest payments comprised P28.301 billion of the total for the month.
The government’s amortization posted a 93.46-percent expansion compared to last year’s P46.798 billion, with interest payments also posting a slight uptick of 7.32 percent compared to the P26.37 billion reported in August 2017.
Furthermore, domestic amortization totaled P86.350 billion for the month due to redemptions, which is comprised of the Bond Sinking Fund and the agrarian-reform beneficiaries, while foreign amortization comprised P4.185 billion of the total.
Domestic interest payments made by the government in the form of Treasury bills, fixed rate Treasury bonds and retail Treasury bonds totaled P17.487 billion, with foreign interest payments reaching P10.814 billion.
From the January-to-August period, the national government has allotted P581.945 billion for the payment of its debt, rising by 5.58 percent compared to the P551.197 billion made in the same period for 2017.
Amortization for the period reached P343.293 billion, which expanded by 4.46 percent compared to last year’s P328.624 billion, while interest payments totaled P238.652 billion growing by 7.22 percent against last year’s P222.573 billion.
The government borrows funds both from onshore and offshore lenders to support its various programs including its infrastructure buildup projects and social programs, among others.
In July this year, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) reported that to ensure efficient borrowing, this year’s goal of sourcing 65 percent of loans from the domestic market and 35 percent from external sources will be modified so that the government will now be targeting the proportion of domestic borrowing to increase to 75 percent, which will reduce the percentage of external financing in the mix to 25 percent in 2019.