Gov’t debt hit fresh high of P16.75T in April

MANILA, Philippines — The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed state liabilities inched up by 0.41 percent or P68.89 billion on a month-on-month basis.

Since the beginning of the year, debts have piled up by 4.37 percent or P701.37 billion.

READ: BTr: Gov’t debt service burden lightened in March

While the government had to incur more borrowings in April to plug its budget deficit, the BTr said a rallying peso helped minimize the growth of obligations.

The local currency has been gaining ground in the past weeks as US President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies bruise confidence in the dollar.

“The government continues to follow a disciplined debt strategy, ensuring that borrowings support productive investments while keeping fiscal sustainability,” the bureau said.

Broken down, domestic obligations, which accounted for 69.2 percent of the total debt load, went up by 1.85 percent to P11.59 trillion in April. The BTr said the increase was driven by robust demand for government securities, including the P300 billion benchmark bonds that the state offered during the month.

The local currency’s appreciation also reduced the peso equivalent of dollar-denominated domestic securities by P3.85 billion.

Meanwhile, external borrowings declined by 2.68 percent to P5.16 trillion because of the P124.74 billion decrease in the peso-value of foreign debts.

At the same time, the BTr said the government paid P58.28 billion more than it borrowed from offshore creditors during the month.

For this year, the Marcos administration is targeting to borrow P2.55 trillion from creditors at home and abroad to plug a projected budget hole amounting to P1.54 trillion, or equivalent to 5.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

By sources of financing, the government will borrow P507.41 billion from foreign investors in 2025. The remaining P2.04 trillion is targeted to be raised domestically, of which P60 billion will be via Treasury bills and P1.98 trillion via longer-dated Treasury bonds.

(2025/06/04-02:08)