Gov’t borrowings jumped 41% in February to P478.8B

The Marcos administration’s borrowing mix swung heavily onshore in February, with domestic debt carrying nearly the entire burden of the month’s financing needs following a fresh Treasury bond (T-bond) issuance.

Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that gross borrowings surged 40.9 percent to P478.8 billion in February from a year earlier, with about 98 percent sourced from the domestic market.

Domestic borrowings ballooned 232.5 percent to P468.2 billion from P140.8 billion last year, driven largely by the P235 billion raised from a fresh 10-year T-bond offering in late February.

Treasury bill issuances also rose to P55.3 billion during the month, sharply higher than P10.8 billion a year ago.

The mammoth amount in local borrowings more than offset a steep decline in external financing, which plunged 94.7 percent to just P10.5 billion.

Global bonds

In February last year, external borrowings reached P198.75 billion, boosted by a multitranche dollar and euro global bond issuance.

For 2026, however, the government frontloaded its global bond issuance in January.

External financing in February mainly came from concessional loans via multilateral lenders, including P7.9 billion in project loans and P2.5 billion in program loans.

From January to February, total borrowings reached nearly P887 billion, up 60.4 percent from P552.6 billion in the same period last year.

This pushed the government’s outstanding debt to climb to a fresh record of P18.16 trillion as of end-February.

The shift toward domestic borrowing reflects the government’s strategy to rely more on local sources to minimize foreign exchange risks amid volatile global conditions.

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“The modest uptick underscores the government’s stable and well-managed debt position amid evolving global financial conditions,” the BTr said in an earlier report.

“This was largely driven by the continued prioritization of domestic financing to protect the government’s debt position from unfavorable external developments,” it added, noting that domestic debt accounts for 68.7 percent of the total.

However, the government trimmed its domestic borrowing program for the second quarter to P784 billion from P824 billion in the previous quarter, following elevated yields amid the Middle East war, which limited fundraising in March.

For 2026, the government plans to borrow P2.68 trillion, with P627.1 billion from external sources and P2.05 trillion from domestic creditors, maintaining a 77:23 domestic-to-foreign borrowing mix.

Finance Secretary Frederick Go said the government had no plans yet to expand its borrowing program, given the ongoing Middle East war.