Over half a trillion pesos in total payments were slashed during the first six months of 2025, with domestic lenders receiving nearly ₱600 billion less in principal payments compared to what they had received from the Marcos administration in 2024.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the Marcos administration’s total debt financing only amounted to ₱768.1 billion from January to June, a decline of ₱514 billion compared to the ₱1.28 trillion recorded in the same period last year.

This 40.1-percent decline was driven by a massive drop in principal payments or amortization during the six-month period.

It fell to ₱353.3 billion, starkly contrasting with the ₱905.6 billion the Marcos administration paid in the first half of last year. This is equivalent to a drop of ₱552.3 billion or 61 percent.

Notably, the government’s payments to domestic creditors plunged by ₱586.9 billion or 77.5 percent from its ₱757.4 billion worth of payments a year earlier. Almost stagnant from the end-June figure, the government only paid ₱170.5 billion in the January-to-June period.

Foreign lenders, however, received ₱182.8 billion as of end-June, up 23.4 percent from ₱148.1 billion last year. However, the government’s meager increase in its principal payments to foreign creditors could not offset the massive deflation in domestic payments.

Meanwhile, the government’s interest payments increased to ₱414.8 billion as of end-June, from ₱377.2 billion a year ago. This translates into a 10-percent increase year on year.

Both interest payments to domestic and foreign creditors saw increases. The government paid ₱299.8 billion to domestic lenders during the period, jumping by 11.9 percent from last year’s ₱268 billion worth of domestic payments.

Broken down, ₱193.7 billion of the payments went towards fixed-rate Treasury bonds (T-bonds), ₱79.3 billion to retail T-bonds, ₱21.9 billion to Treasury bills (T-bills), and ₱5 billion to other national government obligations.

Its interest payments to foreign debt sources inched up by 5.3 percent to ₱115 billion from ₱109.2 billion.

In June alone, total debt payments stood at ₱65.1 billion, 1.5 percent lower than last year’s

₱66.1 billion. June’s figure emerged as the second-lowest payment of the government this year.

During the month, government creditors only received ₱7.7 billion in amortization, 59.5 percent lower than last year’s ₱19 billion

Interest payments, meanwhile, inched up by 3.2 percent to ₱57.4 billion from ₱55.6 billion in June 2024.

To recall, the Marcos administration’s foreign debt soared by more than 50 percent in the first six months of the year, leading to a higher gross borrowing of ₱1.59 trillion from ₱1.57 trillion a year earlier.

For the first half, the government’s debt climbed by ₱20 billion or 1.3 percent from the same period last year.

As of end-June, gross borrowings accounted for 62.5 percent of the government’s total planned borrowings of ₱2.55 trillion for the year.