The national government’s debt payments decreased in January as both amortization and interest payments fell versus the previous year’s level.
According to the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) cash operations report, the national government’s debt payments declined by 77.84 percent to P47.83 billion. Amortization fell by 99.43 percent to P861 million from the P150.29 billion paid out in the same period the previous year.
Of the total principal payments made during the period, P3 million was used to pay local lenders while P858 million was spent to settle foreign obligations.
Meanwhile, interest payments totaled to P46.97 billion, 28.35 percent lower than the P65.55 billion paid out in the same period in 2022.
Of the said amount, P26.65 billion was paid to domestic creditors while P20.32 billion was for international debt.
Earlier, the BTr reported that the government’s budget deficit increased slightly in February due to a small decline in revenues, while expenditures remained flat during the same period.
The deficit in February stood at P106.4 billion, a marginal increase from last year’s P105.8 billion shortfall.
However, the overall budget gap for the first two months of the year, which amounted to P60.6 billion, showed a significant drop of 53.07 percent compared to the same period last year.
