The national government's interest payments programmed for next year increase by 12 percent from this year, data from the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) showed.

The inter-agency body tasked to set the country's macroeconomic targets has programmed a P368.3 billion budget for the government's interest payments, higher by P42 billion compared with P326.3 billion this year.

The latest interest payments program is slightly higher compared with P367.3 billion set by the Arroyo administration.

The Bureau of Treasury earlier reported that the government's debt servicing in first six-months of the year grew 12 percent to P406.1 billion from P361.5 billion in the same period last year.

Data from the bureau showed that the bulk of the debt service consisted of principal payments amounting to P259.4 billion, a 20 percent rise from P216.7 billion, while interest payments up by 1 percent year-on-year to P146.7 billion from P144.7 billion. (CSL)