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By Chino S. Leyco Reporter
THE government’s outstanding
debt in the first four months dipped year on year due to a lower
amount of maturing obligations, the Bureau of Treasury said Monday.
Data from the bureau showed that
the government’s obligations stood at P3.871 trillion, or 0.7
percent lower than the P3.900 trillion outstanding in the same
period last year.
The end-April debt level was P7.7
billion lower than the P3.881 trillion outstanding in the first
three months of this year.
Of the total outstanding at
end-April, P2.301 trillion was owed to domestic creditors, while the
remaining P1.570 trillion was due to foreigners.
Month on month, the domestic debt
increased P15 billion on net issuances of government securities.
Foreign debt, meanwhile, dropped P24 billion from the end-March
levels due to P17 billion in net repayments and P20 billion in
appreciation of third currencies against the US dollar.
The government’s net repayment
has also offset the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar
that increased the foreign debt by P13 billion.
Contingent debt, composed mainly
of guarantees issued by the executive, declined to P512 billion from
the end-March level P520 billion.
This is a decline of P8 billion
resulting from the combined effects of P2 billion in net repayments,
P10 billion in net appreciation of third currencies against the US
dollar, and P4-billion depreciation of the peso against the US
dollar.
In May, principal payments
declined to P10.8 billion, or 16 percent lower than the P13 billion
in the same period last year.
Interest payments decreased 25
percent to P14.02 billion from April’s P18.73 billion, and May
last year’s P14.04 billion.
In the first five months this
year, debt servicing reached P331.53 billion, 1.1 percent higher
than the P328 billion in the same period last year.
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