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THE national government’s debt servicing declined
at end-May, according to the Bureau of Treasury.
Data from the bureau showed that
debt-service payments went down by 9 percent to P327.8 billion in
the first five months of this year from P360.56 billion in the same
period last year due to a strong peso and lower interest payments.
The bulk of the debt service
consisted of principal payments amounting to P204.5 billion while
interest payments stood at P123.1 billion.
In May alone, debt servicing
reached P26.9 billion this year, an improvement from P34.323 billion
last year.
This also included the
prepayments made by the government, which aims to generate savings
from interest payments.
The government plans to pay
P601.4 billion in both principal debt and interest payments this
year, lower than the P854 billion last year.
This is largely composed of
higher interest expense of P301.6 billion, with principal payments
of P299.8 billion.
Based on the government’s
financing program this year, it has set a net financing of P82.5
billion with P54.6 billion to be sourced from foreigners and P27.9
billion from local creditors.
The government also programmed to
maintain P3.925 trillion in debt this year from P3.851 trillion last
year.
This year’s debt target would
account for 58.3 percent of the country’s economic output.
The government aims to cut its
obligations by balancing its budget and attaining a consolidated
public sector surplus next year by boosting revenue collections.
The government is set to reduce
its debt to 43 percent of the country’s economic output by 2010.
--Maricel E. Burgonio
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