Govt H1 debt payments down nearly 13%

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ debt payments in the first half of 2013 fell 12.79% to P316.38 billion from P362.79 billion in the same period a year ago due to lower principal payments.

Data from the Treasury bureau showed the government paid P159.25 billion in principal debt, 25.16% lower than the P212.78 billion it settled in the same period of 2012. The amount is broken down as follows:

• Domestic principal debt – P85.929 billion
• Foreign debt – P73.318 billion

Interest payments however rose 4.7% to P157.14 billion from P150.01 billion, broken down as follows:

• Domestic – P107.204 billion
• Foreign – P49.931 billion

The rise in interest payments was due to fixed-rate and retail Treasury bond offers launched by the government.

In June alone, the government paid P31.29 billion debt, of which:

• P12.87 billion was principal
• P18.42 billion was interest

Debt is what the government uses to plug the gap between its revenues and spending. The Aquino administration set a budget gap ceiling of P238 billion or 2% of gross domestic product for 2013. – Rappler.com