THE country’s debt payments grew 57.37 percent in the January to September period this year, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The data showed the country’s debt service amounted to P1.4 billion in the nine-month period in 2023, significantly higher than the P889.846 billion posted in the same period last year.
The data showed amortization payments in the nine-month period grew 91.93 percent to P940.187 billion in the January to September period in 2023 from the P489.870 billion in the same period last year.
BTr data also showed interest payments in the nine-month period reached P460.124 billion in 2023, an increase of 15.08 percent from P399.976 billion in 2022.
The bulk of amortization and interest payments were domestic at P852.001 billion and P317.314 billion, respectively, in the January to September period.
Meanwhile, BTr data showed that debt payments amounted to P238.999 billion in September 2023, the highest in seven months or since February 2023 when debt service amounted to P375.714 billion.
Compared to September last year, the country’s debt service this year was 15.46 percent higher than the P206.996 billion in 2022.
In terms of amortization payments, the data from BTr also showed it grew double-digit or by 13.9 percent to P167.551 billion in 2023 from P147.099 billion in 2022.
Interest payments grew faster than amortization payments at 19.28 percent to P71.448 billion in September 2023, from P59.897 billion in September 2022.
Similar to the nine-month data, the bulk of debt payments in September were paid to domestic creditors. Amortization payments for the month reached P148.883 billion; and interest payments, P55.892 billion.
In August, the national government’s debt service reached a total of P68.297 billion, 9.04 percent lower than the P75.086 it paid in the same month of last year, BTr data showed.
BTr data showed the national government’s August debt service comprised P30.773 billion for interest payments while P37.524 billion was for amortization. Interest payments made by the government in August was 28.58 percent higher than the P23.932 billion it made last year, based on BTr data.
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