By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter
THE National Government’s (NG) outstanding debt rose to a fresh record high of P18.49 trillion as of end-March, driven partly by the peso’s depreciation, the Bureau of the Treasury said.
Latest data from the Treasury showed that the debt went up by 1.81% from P18.16 trillion at the tip of February.
Yr on 12 months, outstanding debt went up by 10.81% from P16.68 trillion at end-March 2025.
NG debt is the overall amount owed by the Philippine government to creditors equivalent to international financial institutions, development partner-countries, banks, global bondholders and other investors.
“The expansion was primarily driven by the revaluation impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar, alongside net issuance of domestic securities,” the Treasury said in a press release late Wednesday.
The majority or 67.8% of the overall debt stock got here from domestic sources, while the remainder were external borrowings.
Domestic debt, which was composed of presidency securities, inched up by 0.44% to P12.53 trillion at end-March from P12.48 trillion at end-February.
Yr on 12 months, it jumped by 10.15% from P11.38 trillion.
In accordance with the BTr, the rise in domestic debt was “mainly because of net issuance of presidency securities amounting to P46.72 billion.”
“As well as, peso depreciation contributed P8.68 billion to the peso value of foreign-currency-denominated domestic securities,” it added.
The peso closed P60.748 against the dollar on March 31, weakening by P3.083 from its P57.665 close on February 27.
Meanwhile, external debt jumped by 4.81% to P5.95 trillion as of end-March from P5.68 trillion at end-February.
Yr on 12 months, it surged by 12.24% from P5.3 trillion in the identical period.
The Treasury said the rise was “largely attributed to the depreciation of the peso,” which raised the peso value of foreign currency-denominated obligations by P299.50 billion.
This was partly offset by “net repayments of P2.55 billion and downward revaluation of third-currency debt by P23.92 billion,” it added.
External debt was composed of P3 trillion in global bonds and P2.94 trillion in loans.
The NG’s guaranteed obligations inched up by 0.37% to P381.41 billion as of end-March from P379.98 billion within the previous month.
“The movement was influenced by the impact of peso depreciation on the valuation of external guarantees, which added P4.53 billion,” the BTr said.
The rise was, nevertheless, partly offset by net repayments on domestic and external guarantees, which reduced the debt level by P760 million and P1.50 billion, respectively.
“As well as, favorable third currency fluctuations provided a further P840 million offset,” it said.
Yr on 12 months, guaranteed obligations increased by 12.23% from P339.86 billion.
The NG’s outstanding debt is projected to achieve P19.06 trillion by end-2026 under the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing 2026.
Under the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework 2022-2030, updated in October 2025, the federal government seeks to bring the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio all the way down to 58% by 2030.
Last 12 months, the debt-to-GDP ratio climbed to 63.2%, the very best annual level in twenty years or because the 65.7% recorded in 2005.
First-quarter GDP and debt-to-GDP ratio data can be released on Thursday (May 7).