Philippines Debt Pile Grows to P19.39 Trillion in July

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s outstanding debt climbed to P19.39 trillion in July as the government continued to tap domestic and external borrowings and as the depreciation of the local currency raised the peso value of its foreign currency-denominated obligations. Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the national debt went up by 1.7 percent to P19.39 trillion as of end-July, eclipsing the record-high P19.07 trillion in June. With a population of about 112.73 million, the debt figure implies that each Filipino now owes P172,000 to both local and foreign creditors. The latest debt figure was also 10.4 percent higher than the P17.56 trillion recorded a year ago. The total is already equivalent to 98.1 percent of the government’s projection of a P19.77-trillion debt stock by the end of 2026. “The increase was primarily driven by the net availment of domestic and external debt, as well as the revaluation of foreign currency-denominated obligations following movements in the peso relative to the dollar and other foreign currencies,” the BTr said in a statement. The peso closed at 61.327 against the dollar at end-July, depreciating from its 61.290-per-dollar finish at end-June. Domestic debt, which accounted for 67.6 percent of the total, rose by 2.1 percent to P13.11 trillion from P12.84 trillion in June. It was almost entirely composed of government securities. On an annual basis, domestic debt was up by 8.3 percent from P12.11 trillion in July 2025. The Treasury attributed the increase largely to the P271.22 billion net issuance of government securities, with the remaining movement due to the slight upward revaluation of onshore dollar bonds. External debt, meanwhile, stood at P6.28 trillion at end-July, up 0.8 percent from the previous month’s level of P6.23 trillion. It also went up by 15.1 percent from P5.46 trillion in July 2025. “This was mainly due to P17.10 billion in net external loan availment, complemented by the higher peso value of foreign currency-denominated obligations following the depreciation of the peso against the dollar and third currencies,” the BTr said. Against the government’s full-year targets, domestic debt has already reached 99.1 percent of the projected P13.23 trillion while external debt is at 96.1 percent of its P6.54-trillion projection, with five months left in the year. The government’s guaranteed obligations edged up by 0.4 percent to P306.13 billion as of end-July from P305.07 billion a month ago. This was driven primarily by the P1.47 billion revaluation of external guarantees, partly offset by net repayments of P260 million in external guarantees and P150 million in domestic guarantees. The national government’s guaranteed obligations fell by 13.3 percent from P352.97 billion in the same period last year. Debt stock is projected to reach P21.48 trillion by end-2027, consisting of P14.28 trillion in domestic debt and P7.2 trillion in external debt, according to the latest Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing. Information Source: Philstar Business