FRESH borrowings pushed the national government’s (NG) outstanding debt up in November, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed on Wednesday.
At P17.65 trillion, outstanding debt edged up from the P17.56 trillion seen at the end of October and was also higher than the year-earlier P16.05 trillion. It continued to exceed the P17.359-trillion cap for 2025.
“The month-on-month increase was underpinned by the net issuance of domestic and external debt, which was partly offset by significantly lower valuations of foreign currency-denominated obligations due to the peso’s appreciation,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Of the total, 68.66 percent came from domestic sources, with the rest borrowed from abroad.
“Borrowing predominantly from domestic creditors and in local currency has been one of the main strategies pursued by the government to keep its debt sustainable,” the Treasury said.
“This is because peso obligations do not fluctuate with foreign exchange rates and the payment of interest redounds to the benefit of Filipino investors, further boosting domestic income,” it added.
Domestic debt rose to P12.12 trillion as of end-November, higher than the month-earlier P12.05 trillion and P10.92 trillion a year ago. Compared to the end of 2024, domestic debt rose from P10.93 trillion.
The Treasury attributed the increase to the “P71.85 billion in net issuance of government securities, despite a P0.12 billion reduction in peso valuation on retail dollar bonds.”
“Since the start of the year, domestic debt has risen by 10.86 percent or P1.19 trillion. Of which, P1.18 trillion was from the issuance of new debt to fulfill financing requirements,” it said.
“On the other hand, P2.52 billion was caused by the weakening of the peso from its level at the end of 2024,” it added.
External debt, meanwhile, was slightly higher at P5.53 trillion from October’s P5.52 trillion. It was at P5.13 trillion last year and ended 2024 at P5.12 trillion.
The increase was said to be largely due to the “P22.84 billion in net loan availment for the month, which was offset by the P8.73 billion in downward valuation adjustments caused by favorable foreign exchange movements.”
“Peso appreciation against the US dollar trimmed foreign currency debt valuation by P3.94 billion, while third currency movements added another P4.79 billion to the valuation cut.”
Guaranteed obligations rose to P356.04 billion from P344.41 billion but declined from P422.03 billion a year earlier. This is also higher than the P346.66 billion seen at the end of 2024.
The government plans to borrow P2.68 trillion this year to finance its programs and projects.
The bulk, or P2.05 trillion, will come from the domestic debt market, lower than the programmed P2.11 trillion for 2025. Of this, P1.99 trillion will come through the sale of fixed-rate Treasury bonds, and another P60 billion will come from T-bills.
The remaining P627.1 billion will come from external sources, up from 2025’s P488.17 billion. This includes program loans (P263.3 billion), project loans (P61.7 billion), and bonds and other inflows (P302.1 billion).
