Debt payments by the national government went up in July due to higher amortization, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
The national government's debt servicing reached P156.2 billion in July this year, jumping by 158 percent compared with P60.54 billion paid out in the same month last year.
Debt servicing refers to payments of both interest and principal. The debt service burden excludes actual outflows such as rescheduling or refinancing of existing debt and conversion of debt to equity.
Payment of principal accelerated to P104.11 billion from P1.51 billion in July last year.
During the month, principal payments consist of domestic payments amounting to P103.46 billion from zero in the previous year.
Offshore debt payments, meanwhile, hit P647 million in July, an increase 57 percent compared with P1.51 billion.
On the other hand, interest payments declined by 12 percent to P52.1 billion in July from P59.02 billion in 2021.
Of the total, domestic and foreign interest payments reached P32.42 billion and P19.67 billion, respectively.
From January to July, debt payments amounted to P305.25 billion, down 46 percent compared with P566.68 billion a year ago.
Of that amount, interest and principal payments reached P309.3 billion and P305.25 billion, respectively.
Earlier, the Treasury bureau reported that the government’s debt swelled to a new record-high at P12.89 trillion, nearing the P13-trillion mark as of end-July 2022, up 11 percent from P11.61 trillion in the same period last year.
Since end-December 2021, the government debt widened by 9.9 percent or P1.16 trillion
The total debt stock as of end-July 2022 was composed mostly of domestic borrowings at 68.5 percent while the remaining 31.5 percent were foreign borrowings.
But despite the rise, the Department of Finance had assured that the government can still gradually bring down its debt ratio to 52 percent level by the end of the Marcos administration.
For 2022, the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is expected to drop to 61.8 percent before dropping further to 61.3 percent next year.