DEBT payments by the national government for the first quarter of the year jumped by 53.4 percent to P521.5 billion compared to the same period a year ago, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
Due to higher interest and amortization payments, total debt service bill from January to March this year was higher than last year’s P339.98 billion.
Bulk of the total debt service bill in the first quarter of 2021 went to amortization payments amounting to P395.65 billion, a 79.76-percent increase from last year’s P220.1 billion.
On the other hand, interest payments in the same period this year reached P125.86 billion, up by nearly 5 percent from P119.88 billion last year.
For March alone, total debt payments rose to P268.4 billion this year, growing more than five-fold from only P49.29 billion in the same month last year.
The increase was mainly caused by amortization payments growing by more than 35-fold to P220.75 billion from just P6.17 billion in March 2020.
Meanwhile, interest payments in March went up by 10.6 percent to P47.67 billion from P43.115 billion a year ago.
This year, the government sees its debt service expenditures reaching P1.79 trillion.
Loans for Covid response
Last year, government’s debt payments reached a new record high of P962.47 billion as it needed to keep up with more financial obligations to fund its war chest against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The national government’s outstanding debt has reached a new record high of P10.77 trillion as of end-March this year, up by 27.1 percent from P8.48 trillion a year ago.
The country aims to borrow a total of P3.03 trillion this year, roughly the same amount it borrowed in 2020.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III earlier said they expect the national government’s debt this year to reach 57 percent of GDP.
As of end-2020, the country’s debt to GDP ratio surged to 54.5 percent—a 14-year-high—coming from a record-low 39.6 percent in the previous year.