Govt debt payments surge to P216.85 in Oct

DEBT payments by the national government surged in October due to higher amortization expenses, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

At P216.85 billion, the amount was markedly higher than last year’s P77.76 billion and month earlier’s P93.61 billion.

Amortization drove the increase, registering at P161.46 billion compared to September’s P19.76 billion and the year-earlier P18.78 billion.

Almost all of the amortization — P120 billion — was used to reduce domestic debt, with the rest used to reduce the foreign debt load.

Interest payments accounted for the remaining P55.39 billion in overall debt payments, dropping from September’s P73.85 billion and October 2023’s P58.98 billion.

Local creditors still accounted for almost all interest payments at P35.33 billion. This was lower than the P55.41 billion seen a month earlier and last year’s P39.52 billion.

Fixed rate Treasury bonds comprised the bulk at P27.27 billion, followed by retail T-bonds (P3.58 billion) and T-bills (P2.78 billion).

Foreign interest payments, meanwhile, rose to P20.05 billion in October from P18.45 billion in September and the year-earlier P19.46 billion.

Year to date, government debt payments were 25.88 percent higher at P1.86 trillion from the comparable 2023 period’s P1.48 trillion.

Interest payments as of end-October climbed to P638.68 billion, a 23.03-percent increase from the P519.11 billion recorded in 2023.

Similarly, amortization expenses soared by 27.42 percent to P1.22 trillion this year from P958.96 billion in 2023.

The national government’s (NG) outstanding debt ballooned to a new record high of P16.02 trillion in October.

A total of P126.95 billion was added from September’s P15.89 trillion and the count was also P1.54 trillion higher than the year-earlier P14.48 trillion.

Of the total debt stock, 32.02 percent was borrowed abroad, while 67.98 percent was sourced domestically.

Domestic debt hit P10.89 trillion as of end-October, lower than the P10.93 trillion recorded a month earlier but up from P9.90 trillion from last year.

External debt, meanwhile, totaled P5.13 trillion as of end-October, P173.37 or 3.5 percent higher month on month from P4.96 trillion in September.