Debt servicing hits P140 billion in July

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s debt service jumped to almost P140 billion in July, driven largely by higher interest payments and amortization, according to the Bureau of the Treasury’s latest cash operations report.

The Marcos administration paid P139.99 billion to creditors at home and abroad in July, up by 29.6 percent from the P108.06 billion it settled in the same period last year.

The Treasury said the debt service was driven by the 29.1 percent increase in interest payments to P137.18 billion from P106.22 billion in the same period in 2025. This accounted for 98 percent of total debt payments.

About 72.1 percent of the interest payments, amounting to P98.85 billion, was remitted to domestic creditors.

Broken down, the government paid P88.49 billion in interest on fixed-rate Treasury bonds, P4.91 billion on Treasury bills and P3.56 billion on retail T-bonds.

It also settled P38.33 billion in interest owed to foreign creditors in July.

On the other hand, the government paid P2.82 billion for amortization for the month, rising by 53.4 percent from P1.84 billion in July 2025.

External creditors received P2.68 billion, or 95.2 percent of the government’s total amortization, while the remaining P135 million was paid to domestic creditors.

Data from the BTr showed that debt payments hit P1.37 trillion in the seven-month period, up by 56 percent from P876.16 billion in the same period last year.

The debt payments already made up 66.8 percent of the P2.05 trillion debt service expenditures program this year.

As of end-July, amortization more than doubled to P745.82 billion while interest payments surged by 19.2 percent to P620.87 billion.

For 2026, the government intends to spend P1.05 trillion for amortization and P995.61 billion for interest payments.

The country’s outstanding debt is at a record P19.39 trillion as of end-July, up by 1.7 percent from P19.07 trillion in the previous month. The debt stock is expected to reach P19.77 trillion by end-2026.