Gov’t borrowings breached ’25 target, climbed to P2.65T
The Marcos administration breached its borrowing program for 2025 amid higher-than-planned external loans, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Total borrowings last year hit P2.65 trillion, overshooting the P2.6-trillion target by about P50 billion. This figure is also a nearly 4-percent increase from 2024 borrowings.
The breach was largely due to the P543.24 billion worth of external loans, which surpassed the P488.17-billion program for 2025.
Year-on-year, however, external borrowings fell as the government shifted to favoring domestic sources more to minimize currency risks.
As it is, only one global bond worth P192 billion was issued in 2025, compared with two bonds totaling P256.34 billion in 2024.
Meanwhile, domestic borrowings stayed on target at P2.11 trillion, more than half of which came from fixed-rate Treasury bonds (T-bonds). This was nearly 10-percent higher than 2024’s P1.92 trillion, consistent with the government’s borrowing mix strategy.
These borrowings pushed the national government’s outstanding debt to a fresh high of P17.71 trillion by the end of 2025, exceeding the program of P17.36 trillion.
In December alone, total gross borrowings declined 17.65 percent to P57.46 billion, as the government paid P900 million more to local creditors than it borrowed.
Repayment
The net repayment in domestic borrowings came after BTr issued P35 billion in T-bonds during the period but repaid P35.9 billion in Treasury bills, resulting in a reduction of domestic borrowings by P11.92 billion compared with December 2024.
On the external side, the government borrowed P58.36 billion from foreign creditors, bulked by project loans worth P46.63 billion. External borrowings during the month were nearly 1-percent lower than December 2024.
For 2026, the government plans to borrow P2.68 trillion—P627.1 billion from external and P2.05 trillion from domestic creditors, maintaining a domestic-to-foreign debt ratio of 77:23.
The new borrowings aim to cover a projected budget deficit of P1.65 trillion, equivalent to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product and are expected to push total debt stock over P19 trillion by year-end.
