PH debt service burden grew by nearly 5% to $5.2B as of April

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MANILA, Philippines — The government and private sector paid a combined $5.2 billion in external debt service from January to April, up nearly 5 percent from a year earlier.

Even so, debt service as a share of export receipts — a key gauge of a country’s ability to pay its foreign obligations — eased to 22.7 percent from 24 percent a year earlier. That meant the Philippines used more than 22 cents of every dollar earned from exports to service external debt, down from 24 cents previously.

READ: PH gov’t debt servicing rose anew in May

Principal repayments surged nearly 12 percent to $2.7 billion, likely reflecting a larger volume of maturing external obligations during the period, which drove up amortization costs.