Gov’t debt payments skyrocketed by 725% in February
A massive surge in principal repayments in February pushed the government’s debt service bill to rise more than 700 percent, even as interest costs were modest.
Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the Marcos administration’s debt service bill skyrocketed by 725.7 percent to P430.6 billion in February from P52.15 billion in the same month last year.
The surge was driven overwhelmingly by amortization, or principal repayments, which exploded nearly 10,200 percent to P381.71 billion.
Domestic repayments accounted for the bulk of the jump, surging 312,700 percent to P378.51 billion. In February 2025, domestic amortization was only P121 million.
External amortization, by contrast, dipped 10.61 percent to P3.2 billion. The February spike in principal repayments extends a pattern already seen in January, when domestic amortization also surged by around 2,000 percent. Economists earlier said the January surge was largely a function of timing in the maturity of domestic borrowings and the government’s refinancing schedule, rather than a signal of structural concern.
Interest costs
Meanwhile, interest costs rose only slightly in February, increasing 0.9 percent to P48.9 billion.
External interest payments, however, jumped 85.79 percent to P11.85 billion. This was partly offset by an 11.8-percent decline in domestic interest payments to P37.08 billion, resulting in a modest overall increase.
Even so, the figure marked a notable slowdown from previous months, when interest payments had been posting double-digit increases, raising concerns among global debt watchers that elevated costs could persist in the near term.
For the first two months of the year, the government has already paid a total of P568.3 billion to its creditors. This is equivalent to more than a quarter of the P2.005 trillion ceiling for debt service expenditures in 2026.
Of the program, P950 billion is earmarked for interest payments, while P1.05 trillion is set aside for principal amortization.
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