Philippine foreign debt payments jump 31%
The Philippines’ external debt service burden got heavier in the first two months of 2026, driven by a sharp growth in principal payments, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The government and private sector paid a combined $2.1 billion in external debt service from January to February, up more than 31 percent from a year earlier.
Debt service as a share of export receipts—a key gauge of a country’s ability to pay its foreign obligations—also climbed to 17.5 percent from 15.7 percent a year earlier.
That meant the Philippines used more than 17 cents of every dollar earned from exports to service external debt, up from nearly 16 cents previously.
Principal repayments surged nearly 130 percent to $884 million, likely reflecting a larger volume of maturing external obligations during the period, which drove up amortization costs.
Interest payments, meanwhile, were largely unchanged at $1.2 billion.
Under a presidential order, the BSP is the designated agency for compiling and publishing external debt statistics, a mandate aimed at bolstering transparency.
Readily available debt data help borrowers and lenders make better decisions while giving policymakers and analysts the tools to safeguard debt sustainability and broader macroeconomic stability.
The latest debt-service figures covered a period before the escalating conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran rattled global financial markets.
The turmoil, now into a third month, has triggered oil-price shocks that have complicated the inflation outlook for many economies, prompting some central banks—including the BSP—to tighten monetary policy.
At the same time, US Treasury yields have climbed amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates this year in response to persistent war-driven inflation pressures.
Higher US yields have added pressure on the peso, which has weakened past the 61-per-dollar level.
