Debt servicing of the national government declined in the first month of the year due to lower amortization payments, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed. The Marcos administration’s debt payments reached P47.83 billion in January 2023, down 78 percent from P215.84 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 interest fell 28 percent to P46.97 billion from P65.55 billion a year ago. Interest payments consist mainly of domestic payments amounting to P26.65 billion. This is lower by 24 percent against the P40.79 billion registered a year ago. Interest servicing to foreign creditors also decreased 18 percent to P20.32 billion from P24.76 billion. Meanwhile, amortization payments decelerated by 99 percent to P861 million from P150.29 billion in 2022. Of the total, domestic principal payments reached P3 million, significantly lower compared with a year ago’s P148.37 billion. To recall, the government settled its P148.37 billion borrowing to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in January 2022. Foreign amortization, meanwhile, decreased by 55 percent from P1.92 billion in 2022 to P858 million last January. The government’s lower debt servicing comes as the Marcos administration also borrowed less from creditors in January. Earlier, the Treasury reported that gross financing of the national government amounted to P366.86 billion, 16 percent lower compared with P439.13 billion in January last year. Of that amount, P187.56 billion was borrowed from external sources. This is double than a year ago’s P93.58 billion. On the other hand, local borrowings declined by 48 percent to P187.56 billion in January from P345.55 billion a year earlier. As of January 2023, the national government’s outstanding debt stock stood at P13.698 trillion, up by 14 percent from P12.029 trillion a year ago. Month-on-month, it also rose by 2.1 percent from P13.418 trillion last December. Earlier, the Department of Finance said the government plans to gradually bring down its debt ratio to 51 percent level by the end of the Marcos administration. For 2022, the government’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio dropped 60.9 percent, below the 61.8 percent target of the Marcos Administration. Under the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF), the government (NG) aims to bring down the debt-to-GDP ratio to less than 60 percent by 2025 and further down to 51.1 percent by 2028.