THE country’s debt service as of end-October contracted by an annualized rate of 11.7 percent to P929.663 billion due to lower amortization payments, latest Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.
Latest Treasury data showed that the national government paid P123.178 billion less in the January-to-October period compared to the P1.05-trillion debt service in the same period last year.
Likewise, Treasury data showed that debt service in the month of October alone plunged by more than half to P39.817 billion from last year’s P89.066 billion.
The bulk of the government’s debt service payments were accounted for by amortizations which reached P496.502 billion during the 10-month period.
BTr data showed this represented a decline of 27.2 percent from the P681.957 billion posted in the same period last year.
In October, amortizations plunged by 88.47 percent to P6.632 billion, from P57.530 billion a year ago.
Meanwhile, interest payments posted double-digit growth in the 10-month period ending in October and in the month of October this year.
BTr data showed interest payments reached P433.161 billion in the January to October period this year, a 16.79-percent growth from the P370.884 billion in 2021.
For the month of October, interest payments grew 5.23 percent to P33.185 billion from P31.536 billion posted last year.
The BTr data showed interest payments made domestically reached P328.617 billion in the January to October period while foreign interest payments reached P104.544 billion during the period.
For October, domestic interest payments reached P22.407 billion while foreign interest payments amounted to P10.778 billion during the period.
Domestic interest payments were composed mainly of interest payments for Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds amounting to P214.323 billion in the 10-month period and P17.636 billion in October.
This was followed by Retail Treasury Bonds at P100.116 billion in the January to October period this year and P3.575 billion in the month of October.