Philippine debt hits ₱19.66 trillion as peso weakens
Outstanding government debt at end-September was 12.6 per cent higher than a year earlier, Treasury figures showed.
The Philippines ended September with a record ₱19.66 trillion in national government debt, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which attributed the rise to securities issuance and the peso’s depreciation against the dollar.
September added ₱53.47 billion to outstanding obligations, a monthly increase of 0.3 per cent from August’s previous record of ₱19.61 trillion. The total stood at 99.5 per cent of the ₱19.77 trillion projected by the government for end-2026, compared with ₱17.46 trillion a year earlier.
Domestic obligations reached ₱13.25 trillion, rising 0.07 per cent from ₱13.24 trillion in August. Against September 2025’s ₱11.97 trillion, the increase was 10.7 per cent.
The Treasury linked most of the domestic increase to ₱7.66 billion in net securities issuance. A weaker peso added another ₱1.12 billion to the valuation of onshore dollar bonds. The exchange rate moved from 62.209 pesos to the dollar at end-August to 62.601 at end-September, the BTr said.
External obligations rose to ₱6.41 trillion, up 0.7 per cent from August’s ₱6.37 trillion and nearly 17 per cent above the ₱5.48 trillion recorded in September 2025.
For external debt, the Treasury identified two main contributors: a ₱40.12 billion valuation increase resulting from the peso’s depreciation against the dollar, and ₱9.27 billion in net external loan availment.
