The national government lowered its borrowings to ₱1.14 trillion from January to April 2025, down by ₱28 billion from last year’s ₱1.16 trillion, mainly due to the massive decline in borrowings from local lenders.

According to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), the January-to-April figure was 2.4 percent lower than the government’s gross revenue recorded in the same period last year.

As of end-April, gross borrowings accounted for 44.7 percent of the government’s total planned borrowings of ₱2.55 trillion for the year.

Gross domestic debt stood at ₱835.5 billion, significantly dropping by 19.6 percent from the government’s gross domestic loans in the previous year at ₱1.04 trillion

It accounted for 73.3 percent of the total borrowings, falling short of the government’s 80 percent target share of the total borrowings. This year, the government plans to acquire 20 percent of its financing from foreign sources and 80 percent from domestic sources, resulting in an 80:20 borrowing mix.

Broken down, the government reduced its borrowings from short-dated treasury bills (T-bills), which stood at ₱66.1 billion, from ₱76.8 billion a year ago.

Meanwhile, the BTr raised P469.4 billion from fixed-rate treasury bonds (T-bonds), 24.4 percent higher than the P377.3 billion it borrowed in the first four months of 2024.

Notably, the government had issued retail treasury bonds (RTBs) worth P584.9 billion in 2024, which was issued this year. But the government borrowed through fixed-rate treasury notes, raising P300 billion during the period. There was no sale of this a year ago.

Meanwhile, the government borrowed nearly triple the amount in foreign loans during the period to P299.7 billion from P124.1 billion a year earlier.

Foreign loans accounted for 26.3 percent of the total, still exceeding the 20-percent target share of foreign debt.

Notably, global bonds totaling ₱192 billion were settled during the fourth-month period, a massive jump from zero in the same period of the previous year.

Meanwhile, it had trimmed down its program loans from P95.4 billion a year ago to P85.2 billion in the first quarter.

It likewise reduced the value of its project loans to P22.5 billion from P28.7 billion a year earlier.

It can be recalled that the Marcos administration’s gross borrowings surged to ₱2.56 trillion in 2024, a 16.9 percent increase from ₱2.19 trillion in the previous year, driven by a sharp rise in both domestic and foreign debt.

Last year’s total borrowings exceeded the administration’s borrowing plan by ₱100 billion. It was 4.07 percent higher than the programmed ₱2.46 trillion for the year.