The country’s outstanding debt has ballooned by 1.63 percent, with additional obligations totaling P261 billion incurred in end-January, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) reported on Tuesday.

As such, the BTr said the national government’s outstanding obligations now stand at P16.31 trillion.

Despite this, the BTr maintained that the level remains manageable and in line with the government’s target to support economic development while ensuring fiscal sustainability.

Based on Treasury records, the month-over-month rise in debt stock was due to the net incurrence of new domestic and external debt, as well as the impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar from P57.847 at the end of 2024 to P58.375 at end of January 2025.

Domestic debt

“Of the total debt stock, domestic debt accounted for 67.9 percent, while the remaining 32.1 percent consisted of external obligations,” the BTr said.

Further, it informed that the end-January 2025 level of domestic debt reached P11.08 trillion, reflecting an increase of P153.68 billion or 1.41 percent from its end-December 2024 level.

The local debt was mainly due to the net issuance of government securities of P152.17 billion as gross issuances of P270.01 billion exceeded repayments of P117.84 billion to partly finance the projected deficit for the quarter.

Local currency depreciation

Meanwhile, the valuation effect of local currency depreciation against the US dollar added P1.51 billion to the January debt total.

Moreover, the BTr noted that the country’s external debt stood at P5.23 trillion, reflecting a P107.79 billion or 2.10 percent increase from the previous month, driven by net availment of foreign loans amounting to P59.30 billion, as well as the upward revaluation caused by unfavorable US and third-currency movements amounting to P46.74 billion and P1.75 billion, respectively.

Guaranteed obligations

For its part, guaranteed obligations decreased by P0.39 billion or 0.11 percent to P346.27 billion as of end-January 2025, from its end-December 2024 level, due to net repayment of domestic and external guarantees amounting to P1.55 billion and P0.25 billion, respectively.