Abdiel Franz Bernales

The Philippine government's debt mounted by 10.9 percent year-on-year to a new all-time high of P16.090 trillion as of the end of November 2024, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on January 7, 2025.


The latest data from BTr showed that the total debt stood at P16.090 trillion as of November 2024, reflecting a 10.9% increase from P14.508 trillion as of November 2023. It is also 0.4% higher than the P16.020 trillion as of October 2024.

"The debt portfolio increased… due to net financing and the impact of local currency depreciation on the valuation of foreign-currency-denominated debt," the BTr said in an accompanying statement.

The peso value ended November at P58.602:$1, weaker than the P58.198:$1 as of October 2024.

The domestic debt stood at P10.921 trillion in November 2023, a 9.0% increase from P10.024 trillion.

This was attributed to the P30.67-billion net issuance of domestic securities and the P1.15-billion impact of the peso depreciation on US dollar-denominated debt.

Data from the BTr on Tuesday showed that outstanding debt increased by 0.8%, or PHP 126.95 billion, to PHP 16.02 trillion as of October from PHP 15.89 trillion as of September.

"The increase was primarily driven by the valuation impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar from PHP 56.017 in September 2024 to PHP 58.198 in October 2024," the BTr said in a statement.

External debt was recorded at P5.169 trillion, up 15.3% from P4.484 trillion the previous year and 0.8% higher than the P5.130 trillion as of October.

"The significant depreciation of the peso led to a P35.61-billion escalation in the local valuation of US dollar-denominated debt while net foreign loan availments added P8.33 billion," the BTr said.

"Meanwhile, favorable third-currency movements relative to the US dollar reduced external debt by P5.06 billion," it added.

Obligations guaranteed by the national government totaled P422.04 billion, up 2.5% from the previous month. This came as new domestic guarantees stood at P8.95 billion, and upward adjustments due to unfavorable foreign currency movements totaled P1.85 billion. 

This was slightly offset by the repayment of external guarantees, which totaled P0.52 billion. 

The Philippines' external debt increased steadily over the years: $111.2 billion in 2022 (up 4.48% from 2021), $106.4 billion in 2021 (up 8.07% from 2020), $98.5 billion in 2020 (up 17.76% from 2019), and $83.6 billion in 2019 (up 5.89% from 2018).