Debt dips to P18.47 trillion

As of end-April

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines saw a lower outstanding debt stock as of end-April, as repayments of domestic securities tempered the impact of a weakening peso, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

Latest BTr data showed that outstanding obligations settled at P18.47 trillion as of the end of April, down by 0.09 percent from the record-high P18.49 trillion in March, the first monthly decline after a string of fresh peaks.

“The decline in debt was primarily driven by the government’s repayment of domestic securities, which more than offset the impact of peso depreciation against the dollar on foreign currency-denominated obligations,” the BTr said.

However, the latest debt figure is still 10.3 percent higher than the P16.75 trillion in the same month last year.

As of end-April, the debt stock had already reached nearly 97 percent of the government’s P19.06-trillion projected amount for 2026.

Domestic debt dominated at 67.2 percent of the total in end-April, while 32.8 percent represented foreign obligations.

Domestic debt fell by nearly one percent to P12.41 trillion as of end-April from the end-March level of P12.53 trillion.

The decline was attributed to the P121.64 billion in net redemptions for the month, as P283.24 billion in debt issuance was offset by maturities of P404.88 billion.

In contrast, domestic debt went up by 7.1 percent from P11.59 trillion in end-April 2025.

The BTr said that a P2.46-billion valuation increase in the peso equivalent of foreign currency-denominated domestic securities from peso depreciation partially tempered the decline.

External obligations, on the other hand, increased by 1.7 percent to P6.06 trillion in end-April from P5.95 trillion in end-March, mainly due to the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.

”Revaluation of foreign currency-denominated obligations amounted to P101.72 billion due to the weaker peso against the dollar and third-currency movements. Meanwhile, net redemption amounted to P800 million,” it said.

The external debt grew by 17.3 percent annually from P5.16 trillion in end-April 2025.

The peso weakened against the dollar to 61.54 as of end-April from 60.678 as of end-March, the BTr said.

The government’s guaranteed obligations edged up by 0.5 percent to P383.23 billion as of end-April from P381.41 billion as of end-March. This was driven by the effect of peso depreciation and third-currency movements on the valuation of external guarantees amounting to P1.25 billion and P620 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, repayments by the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. and National Power Corp. cut domestic guaranteed operations by P50 million.