Swelling further in December 2025, the national government’s (NG) total outstanding debt climbed to a new record of ₱17.71 trillion by year-end, driven by additional government borrowing to fund projects and the peso’s continued depreciation against the United States (US) dollar and other currencies.

The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) released on Tuesday, Feb. 3, showed the country’s debt pile rose by ₱59.8 billion, or 0.34 percent, from the end-November 2025 level of ₱17.65 trillion.

This meant the government failed to keep borrowings within its end-2025 target of ₱17.36 trillion, overshooting the ceiling by more than ₱350 billion. Compared with the end-2024 debt stock, the end-2025 figure was ₱1.66 trillion, or 10.3 percent, higher than the ₱16.05 trillion recorded a year earlier.

According to the BTr, the rise to a fresh record high was mainly due to the government’s “strategic net issuance of debt instruments to fund development programs, as well as the valuation effects of peso depreciation against the US dollar and third currencies.”

Debt sourced from domestic lenders reached ₱12.12 trillion at end-2025, reflecting a full-year increase of ₱1.19 trillion, or 10.9 percent, from the ₱10.93-trillion level at the end of 2024. The increase was driven largely by the government’s net issuance of debt securities through regular treasury bill (T-bills) and treasury bond (T-bond) offerings.

Nearly the entire amount came from government securities (GS), with only ₱160 million sourced from loans.

Domestic borrowings accounted for the bulk, or 68.4 percent, of total debt—a share the BTr said aligns with its strategy of “prioritizing peso-denominated financing” to “reduce exposure to exchange rate volatility” and keep interest payments (IPs) within the local economy.

Meanwhile, external debt rose by ₱60.6 billion, or 1.1 percent, to ₱5.59 trillion in December last year from ₱5.53 trillion in November 2025.

This was driven by “the issuance of new global bonds, net availment of official development assistance (ODA) from international development partners, as well as the upward revaluation of foreign currency-denominated debt brought about by unfavorable exchange rate movements,” the BTr said.

In valuing the total debt stock, the foreign exchange (forex) rate used was ₱58.79:$1, higher than the previous month’s ₱58.729:$1.

The peso also weakened against major third currencies from end-2024 to end-2025, including the euro (from ₱59.918 to ₱69.055) and the Japanese yen (from ₱0.369 to ₱0.375), contributing further to the upward revaluation of foreign-currency debt.

Meanwhile, gross borrowings as of end-November 2025 had already exceeded the full-year 2024 level and were at risk of breaching the ₱2.6-trillion target for the year. BTr data showed 11-month borrowings reached ₱2.59 trillion—1.3 percent higher than the ₱2.56 trillion recorded at end-December 2024.

By the end of this year, the government expects the debt level to exceed ₱19 trillion, or 7.3 percent higher than the end-2025 actual figure.

It also bears noting that NG debt as a share of total output, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), stood at 63.2 percent last year—the highest since the 65.7 percent recorded in 2005.

As of end-2025, the domestic debt-to-GDP ratio climbed to a record 43.3 percent, the highest since 1986, based on historical BTr data. Meanwhile, the foreign debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 20 percent, its highest level since 2011’s 20.5 percent.