Gov’t bond trading hit record P12.68T in 2025
The Philippine government bond market’s trading volume surged to a record high in 2025, as stronger secondary market activity signaled improved liquidity and investor confidence.
Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that annual trading volume climbed to P12.68 trillion by end-2025, a sharp rebound from the postpandemic low of P2.98 trillion in 2022.
The BTr attributed the growth to the regular issuance of Treasury bills and bonds, as well as strategies for building benchmark securities and consolidating similar issuances.
“The strength we are seeing in the secondary market is the clearest validation of our long-term strategy to deepen the government securities market,” National Treasurer Sharon Almanza said.
“By building reliable benchmarks, modernizing market infrastructure, and working closely with our primary dealers, we are creating a market that is more liquid, transparent, and resilient, while ensuring that government financing remains efficient and that the capital market continues to support sustainable economic growth,” she added.
The overall turnover ratio for government securities, or a measure of how often bonds are traded in a year, reached 1.05 in 2025.
Looking at key benchmarks, the 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year bonds changed hands 2.5, 1.6, and 3.1 times, up from 0.3, 0.7, and 1.6 in 2023, showing investors are trading more actively across maturities—a pattern the BTr says reflects “deeper market resilience.”
Meanwhile, Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs), which are government bonds aimed at ordinary domestic investors, have also become more liquid, with higher trading volumes and a turnover ratio of 2.4 in 2025.
“This rebalancing demonstrates the market’s willingness to support government financing, which in turn facilitates efficient yield formation across maturities, providing competitive price guidance to local issuers in need of debt financing,” the BTr said.
Further, foreign investor interest has strengthened after rising to nearly 5 percent in 2025 from just 2 percent in 2023.
This momentum has brought the Philippines closer to joining the JP Morgan Government Bond Index–Emerging Markets (GBI-EM), one of the world’s most influential emerging market bond indices.
