Government debt payments balloon to P97 billion in May

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration’s debt service burden rose to P97 billion in May after the government ramped up amortization and interest payments, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported.

The state settled P97.18 billion to its creditors in May, up by 21.4 percent from P80.05 billion in the same month a year ago, according to the latest data from the BTr.

Month-on-month, the debt service bill was 69.1 percent lower than the recorded P314.89 billion in April.

Broken down, the government paid P84.60 billion in interest payments in May, 20.9 percent more than the nearly P70 billion it settled a year ago.

This comprised the bulk or 87 percent of the total debt service bill for the month.

Domestic interest payments increased by 27.1 percent to P66.51 billion in May from P52.31 billion a year ago.

This consisted of P41.68 billion for fixed-rate Treasury bonds (T-bonds), P21.09 billion for retail T-bonds and P3.74 billion for T- bills.

The Treasury sells government securities every week to generate funding for public programs and projects.

Meanwhile, the government settled P18.09 billion in interest owed to foreign financiers in May.

Amortization payments increased by 24.6 percent to P12.58 billion from P10.09 billion a year ago. The entire allocation for principal payments was remitted to foreign sources.

Likewise, the debt service bill jumped by 63.5 percent to P1.15 trillion in the first five months of 2026 from P702.97 billion in the same period last year.

As of end-May, interest payments rose by 17.9 percent to P421.26 billion, while principal payments more than doubled to P728.21 billion.

The government has already settled 57 percent of its total debt service for 2026, amounting to P2.01 trillion.

The Philippines’ outstanding debt piled up to P18.55 trillion as of end-May, lifted by fresh domestic borrowings to cover funding needs amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.