The national government’s debt payments dropped by 12.93 percent in the first two months of 2021 due to lower year-on-year principal payments, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Data posted on the BTr’s website showed that P253.09 billion was settled in January to February, lower than the P290.69 billion paid out in the same period in 2020.
Amortization declined by 18.24 percent to P174.9 billion, compared with the P213.92 billion paid in the same period a year ago.
Of the total principal payments made during the period, P49.89 billion was used to pay local lenders while P125.01 billion was spent to settle foreign obligations.
Meanwhile, interest payments as of February totaled to P78.19 billion, 1.85 percent higher than the P76.77 billion paid out as of the same period the previous year.
Of the said amount, P51.39 billion was paid to domestic creditors while P26.8 billion was for international debt.
For the month of February, debt payments fell by 76.98 percent to P33.29 billion from P144.64 billion a year ago.
Amortization also accounted for the decline for the month as it dropped by 98.35 percent to P2.13 billion from P129.28 billion in the same period last year.
Interest payments, on the other hand, rose by 103.01 percent to P31.17 billion from P15.35 billion in February 2020.
For this year, debt service payment is expected to rise to P1.79 trillion.
The lion’s share will be for principal payments with P1.26 trillion, while the remaining P531.55 billion will be for interest payments.
