Debt payments rise in 9 months

The government paid more debts in the first nine months of the year mainly due to an increase in principal amortization, the state-run Treasury Bureau said over the weekend.

Bureau of the Treasury data showed the government increased its debt payments to P1.4 trillion in the year to September from P889.8 billion a year ago.

Debt service in September grew by 15 percent to P238.9 billion from P206.9 billion a year ago.

Amortization, or principal payments, amounted to P940.1 billion during the first nine months, up by 91.92 percent from P489.8 billion a year ago.

Interest payments from January to September 2023 reached P460.1 billion, a 15 percent increase from P400 billion last year.

Sept. debt service: P239B

Principal payments in September alone amounted to P167.5 billion, higher by 13.9 percent than last year's P147 billion.

The national government paid P148.8 billion to domestic lenders and P18.6 billion to foreign creditors.

Meanwhile, interest payments reached P71.4 billion in September, up 19.3 percent from P59.8 billion in the same month last year.

Interest on local debt slightly increased by 16.9 percent to P55.8 billion this year from P47.7 billion in 2022.

Local interest payments in September 2023 consisted of P28.6 billion in fixed-rate Treasury bonds, P25.6 billion in retail Treasury bonds, and P1.6 billion in Treasury bills.

Interest on foreign debts amounted to P15.5 billion, also 28 percent higher than last year's P12.1 billion.

Higher debt service bills in September might be due to "higher government maturities… from August to September (this year)," Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said.

"Higher US interest rates since 2022 also fundamentally increased the government's debt servicing bill. The weaker peso exchange rate versus the US dollar also increased the peso equivalent of the country's foreign debt, thereby increasing the national government's debt service bill," Ricafort said in a Viber message.