The Philippine government's debt servicing in February grew 11 percent to P127.5 billion from P114.5 billion in the same period last year, according to the Bureau of Treasury.

Data from the bureau showed the bulk of the debt service consisted of principal payments amounting to P96.1 billion, a 21 percent rise from P79 billion, while interest payments fell 11 percent year-on-year to P31.4 billion from P35.5 billion.

Of the P96.1 billion principal payments, P48.1 billion was paid to domestic creditors, while P48 billion was paid to foreign creditors.

About P15.7 billion of the total P31.4 billion interest payments for the month, meanwhile was paid to domestic creditors and the remaining P15.7 billion was paid to offshore creditors.

Debt servicing refers to payments of both interest and principal. The debt service burden excludes actual outflows such as rescheduling or refinancing of existing debt and conver-sion of debt to equit