Debt: capital payment will grow by 60% in 2017

The amount of the public debt amortization – i.e. the payment of debts acquired in previous years and that must be honored annually by the Treasury – will grow by 60% in 2017 compared to the last year.

The amortizations will reach USD 7034 million by the end of this year, according to data from the Pro Forma Budget that arrived last Friday at the Legislature, Finance Minister Carlos de la Torre announced yesterday.

The figure is USD 2 467 million higher than what was paid last year, according to data on budget execution. For Jaime Carrera, secretary of the Observatory of Fiscal Policy, it ‘s hard to estimate the causes for this increase, but it could be related to the renewal of the domestic debt that is made each year and the growth of the external debt. (I)