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FAVORABLE interest rates and a stronger peso allowed the
national government to make more principal payments on
its debts and save billions of pesos more on interest
payments in the first three months this year.
According to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, the
government intended to make principal payments totaling
at least P132.59 billion during the period, but a
combination of good revenue flows and favorable interest
rate environment allowed it to pay a total P139.11
billion instead.
This was
P6.52 billion more than it intended to pay for the
period, he noted.
The
increased capacity to settle the government’s foreign
and domestic debts sustained last year’s momentum in
which the government actually made principal payments of
P346.27 billion when the intention was to pay only
around P332.47 billion, according to Teves.
Interest
payments in the first quarter this year were also seen
to hit P102.35 billion, but the government paid no more
than P100.24 billion.
Actual
interest payments on local debts for the period totaled
only P57.36 billion against program of at least P59.58
billion.
Foreign
interest payments, seen to total the equivalent of
P42.66 billion, actually totaled P42.89 billion.
Principal payments on domestic debts totaled P126.15
billion, or P6.2 billion higher than anticipated
payments of only P119.95 billion.
The same
payments on foreign debts totaled P12.97 billion, or
P323 million more than was planned for the period of
only P12.65 billion.
As a
result, the government ended up paying principal as well
as interest payments totaling P239.36 billion instead of
only P234.94 billion during the period.
This was
P4.42 billion more than the government actually planned
for the period, Teves said. |
