Feb debt payments down 77% to ₧33.3B

DEbt payments by the national government in February this year sank to P33.3 billion, dropping by almost 77 percent from P144.64 billion in the same month last year.

Latest debt service data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTR) showed a significant year-onyear decline in amortization payments and the doubling of interest payments in February.

The government only paid P2.13 billion for amortization this year, plunging by 98.4 percent from last year’s P129.28 billion.

Meanwhile, its interest payments for the same month hit P31.17 billion, twice as much as P15.35 billion in February 2020.

For the first two months of the year, the national government shelled out P253.09 billion, lower by 12.9 percent compared to P290.69 billion in the same period a year ago.

Amortization payments from January to February this year settled to P174.9 billion, falling by 18.2 percent from last year’s P213.92 billion. Interest payments had also hit P78.19 billion, inching up by 1.85 percent from P76.77 billion recorded last year.

In 2020, government’s debt payments reached a new record high of P962.47 billion as it needed to keep up with more financial obligations to fund its war chest against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The national government’s outstanding debt as of end-february this year has also soared to a new record high of P10.406 trillion as the government continued to borrow more money to respond to the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III earlier said they expect the national government’s debt this year to reach 57 percent of GDP. The country aims to borrow P3.03 trillion this year, almost the same amount it borrowed in 2020.

As of end-2020, the country’s debt-to-gdp ratio surged to 54.5 percent—a 14-yearhigh—coming from a record-low 39.6 percent in the previous year.