The Marcos Jr. administration’s debt stock owed to domestic lenders via government securities (GS) swelled to ₱12.05 trillion as of end-October 2025, slightly exceeding the full-year program, on the back of larger borrowings in both short-term and long-term IOUs.

The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) as of Dec. 2, 2025, showed that the national government (NG) increased its outstanding domestic debt at end-October last year by ₱1.12 trillion, or 10.2 percent, from the end-2024 GS pile of ₱10.93 trillion.

Year-on-year, the increase amounted to a higher ₱1.16 trillion, or 10.7 percent, from ₱10.89 trillion at end-October 2024.

As of end-October last year, outstanding treasury bills (T-bills) stood at ₱938.4 billion, while treasury bonds (T-bonds) reached ₱11.11 trillion, including special issues such as retail treasury bonds (RTBs), benchmark bonds, 25-year Central Bank-Board of Liquidators (CB-BOL) bonds, 10-year agrarian reform (AR) bonds, as well as retail dollar bonds (RDBs).

Outstanding GS at end-October 2025 exceeded the end-September level of ₱11.97 trillion but fell below the end-August figure of ₱12.09 trillion and the record-high ₱12.11 trillion posted at end-July.

Outstanding domestic debt by end-2025 is expected to reach only ₱12.04 trillion, based on the BTr program under the ₱6.326-trillion 2025 national budget.

From January to October 2025, the Marcos Jr. administration issued a gross of ₱2.89 trillion in GS, of which the bulk were short-dated T-bills totaling ₱1.46 trillion, separate BTr data showed.

The NG also sold ₱931.1 billion in long-dated T-bonds during the first 10 months of last year, in addition to the ₱507.2 billion in five-year RTBs raised last August and a cumulative ₱492.6 billion in benchmark bonds.

It can be noted that borrowing costs for both T-bills and T-bonds have generally declined.

BTr data showed that average yields on 91-, 182-, and 364-day IOUs fell from 5.384 percent, 5.614 percent, and 5.847 percent, respectively, in January 2025 to 4.847 percent, 4.985 percent, and 5.045 percent, respectively, by November.

Rates across T-bond tenors ranged from 5.894 percent to 6.375 percent for three- to 25-year bonds in January last year. By November 2025, yields ranged between 5.649 percent and 6.424 percent for five- to 20-year GS, slightly elevated compared with January levels.

The easing in borrowing costs moved alongside the gradual reduction in the interest rates set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BSP cut the key policy rate by a cumulative 200 basis points (bps), from a peak of 6.5 percent prior to the easing cycle to the current 4.5 percent.

For 2026, the NG plans to raise a gross ₱2.79 trillion from the domestic debt market, bringing the end-2026 programmed outstanding amount to ₱13.28 trillion.

The BTr is entering 2026 with a sharp increase in planned first-quarter borrowings, rising from ₱437 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 to ₱824 billion.

The Philippines leans more on domestically sourced borrowing than external debt, as ample liquidity in the financial system and the government’s aim to limit foreign exchange (forex) risks shaped its financing strategy.