PH gov't debt hits record P19.065 trillion

The Philippine government’s total outstanding debt grew by P518.98 billion to hit a record P19.065 trillion at the end of June, due mainly to higher borrowings both domestic and external to finance national development, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported Thursday.

The government’s outstanding debt level compares with the P18.546 trillion as of end-May, and the P17.267 trillion as of end-June 2025.

“The P518.98 billion (2.80%) increase from the end-May 2026 level of P18.55 trillion was driven by the net availment of both domestic and external borrowings to fund national development. The favorable movement of the peso tempered the increase,” the BTr said.

Domestic borrowing came in at P12.837 trillion, reflecting a 2.74% increase from P12.495 trillion in May, and a 7.43% jump from P11.950 trillion at the end of the same month last year. These were all in government securities.

A P342.93-billion net issuance of government securities was recorded during the period, along with a P0.60-billion downward adjustment of onshore dollar bonds (ODBs) due to a stronger peso.

External debt stood at P6.227 trillion, up by P176.66 billion or 2.92% from the end-May level of P6.051 trillion, due to the net availment of external loans equivalent to P223.11 billion.

Government-guaranteed obligations fell by 31.21% to P305.07 billion from P443.50 billion at end-May. This is composed of P218.13 billion domestic debt, and P86.94 billion external.

According to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort, this could lead to wider deficits in the long run.

“For the coming months, catch up government spending especially on infrastructure to make up for the government unspending since the latter part of 2025 largely due to the anomalous flood-control projects could partly lead to wider budget deficits and could again require additional government borrowings,” he said.

Ricafort said this could, in turn, bring the government debt to uncharted territory, but also boost economic growth as a “calculated trad-off.” — BM, GMA News