After the borrowing overshoot in the first quarter, the Marcos administration stepped on the brakes in April, bringing gross debt to ₱1.13 trillion in the first four months of the year, modestly lower than the ₱1.14 trillion recorded in the same period last year.

While the government significantly exceeded its first-quarter target of ₱824 billion due to heavy front-loading in February, the pace of borrowing moderated in April.

This total was driven by continued borrowing from domestic lenders. Domestic gross borrowings from January to April reached ₱853.4 billion, a modest increase from the ₱835.5 billion raised a year ago.

​R​ecall that the borrowing spree from domestic lenders peaked in February, when the government raised ₱468.2 billion in a single month—more than triple the ₱140.8 billion borrowed in February 2025.

Meanwhile, domestic borrowing stood at ₱122.3 billion in April, a sharp decline from the ₱384.7 billion borrowed in April last year, which had been bolstered by ₱300 billion in fixed-rate Treasury notes.

Of the four-month domestic total, ₱769.8 billion was raised through fixed-rate Treasury bonds (T-bonds), a 64 percent increase from the ₱469.4 billion raised through the same instrument in the same period a year ago.

Borrowings through short-dated Treasury bills (T-bills) for the period also climbed to ₱83.6 billion, up from ₱66.1 billion last year.

As a result, domestic debt accounted for 75.3 percent of four-month gross borrowings. This was slightly below the government's 77 percent domestic borrowing mix target, although it recovered from the 72.8 percent ratio seen at the end of March.

Meanwhile, gross foreign debt for the first four months totaled ₱280.5 billion, a 6.4 percent decrease from the ₱299.7 billion recorded in the same period in 2025. External borrowing was heavily front-loaded in January with the issuance of ₱161.3 billion in multi-tranche global bonds.

While foreign borrowing remained low in April at ₱7.9 billion, the period saw a significant rise in project loans, which reached a cumulative ₱39.3 billion. This was 74 percent higher than the ₱22.5 billion recorded as of end-April 2025.

Notably, the front-loading of debt occurred at a time when markets were beginning to be stirred by uncertainties tied to the flare-up of the Middle East conflict.

With the first-quarter target already exceeded and the local currency under pressure, the administration continues to face a challenging environment in which rising yields and regional instability could complicate future borrowing costs.

For the second quarter, the Marcos administration aims to borrow ₱784 billion as it ramps up its fundraising efforts. The domestic borrowing plan for the period accounts for nearly 30 percent of the government's ₱2.68 trillion annual financing requirement.