The Marcos administration ramped up borrowing in June, with a late second-quarter debt push bringing total gross borrowings in the first half of the year to ₱1.82 trillion.


According to the Bureau of the Treasury, the six-month total represents a 14.5 percent increase from the ₱1.59 trillion raised in the same period in 2025.

While the government temporarily stepped on the brakes in April and May, the pace of borrowing accelerated sharply at the close of the second quarter.

June recorded the highest monthly gross borrowing so far this year at ₱579.6 billion, driven by massive issuances in both the domestic and foreign markets.

This six-month cumulative total was primarily driven by borrowing from domestic lenders, which saw a year-on-year increase in volume. Domestic gross debt as of end-June stood at ₱1.28 trillion, 7.4 percent higher than the ₱1.19 trillion raised in the same period in 2025.

Domestically, June borrowing stood at ₱343 billion, massively higher than the ₱167.6 billion raised in June last year.

Of the first-half domestic total, ₱1.02 trillion was raised through fixed-rate Treasury bonds (T-bonds), one-third higher than the ₱756.8 billion raised through the same instrument in the first half of last year.

Meanwhile, net borrowings through short-dated Treasury bills (T-bills) for the period surged to ₱257.7 billion, nearly double the ₱132.3 billion netted by mid-2025.

Domestic debt accounted for 70.1 percent of the total six-month gross borrowings. This is a notable shift from the end-May position of 75.2 percent and falls further below the government’s 77 percent domestic borrowing mix target.

Meanwhile, gross foreign debt for the first half of 2026 totaled ₱544.8 billion, one-third higher than the ₱402.4 billion recorded in the first half of 2025.

External borrowing was heavily concentrated in two periods: January, with the issuance of ₱161.3 billion in multi-tranche global bonds, and June, which saw a ₱153.1 billion triple-tranche global bond issuance.

Project loans surged during the six months, reaching a cumulative ₱74.2 billion by the end of June. This was 90 percent higher than the ₱39.1 billion recorded as of end-June 2025.

Last June, the government concluded its offshore borrowing after completing its foreign borrowing program with a $2.5-billion triple-tranche offering of US dollar-denominated global bonds, aimed at boosting the state coffers to help fund its ₱6.793-trillion national budget for fiscal year 2026.

Meanwhile, the government’s borrowing program will concentrate on the domestic capital market in the second half as the administration shifts toward short-term debt instruments amid volatile borrowing conditions.

According to the BTr, the government is seeking to raise ₱1.12 trillion from the domestic market in the third quarter of 2026, more than two-fifths higher than the previous quarter.