MANILA, Philippines - The country's debt payments grew 14% to P365.1 billion in the first 4 months of 2010 from P320.2 billion in the same period last year, data from the Bureau of Treasury showed.

The Treasury said bulk of the debt service in January to April consisted of principal payments amounting to P240.55 billion, a 25% jump from P198.02 billion in 2009. Interest payments rose by only 2% to P124.55 billion from P122.14 billion.

Of the total principal payments, P156.12 billion was paid to domestic creditors, while P84.44 billion was paid to foreign ones.

Meanwhile, P68.04 billion of the interest payments was paid to local lenders while the remaining P56.5 billion went to offshore creditors.

In April alone, the government's debt payments fell 11% to P25.77 billion from P28.64 billion last year.

Earlier, the government reported that borrowings in April rose 16% to P36.6 billion due to the sale of $500 million fixed-rate retail treasury bonds.