PH debt, GDP ratios peak in '25

Swelling further in December 2025, the national government's (NG) total outstanding debt climbed to a new record of P17.71 trillion by year-end, driven by additional government borrowing to fund projects and the peso's continued depreciation against the United States (US) dollar and other currencies.

- DERCO ROSAL

The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) released on Tuesday, Feb. 3, showed the country's debt pile rose by P59.8 billion, or 0.34 percent, from the end-November 2025 level of P17.65 trillion.

This meant the government failed to keep borrowings within its end-2025 target of P17.36 trillion, overshooting the ceiling by more than 350 billion. Compared with the end-2024 debt stock, the end-2025 figure was P1.66 trillion, or 10.3 percent, higher than the P16.05 trillion recorded a year earlier.

According to the BTr, the rise to a fresh record high was mainly due to the government's "strategic net issuance of debt instruments to fund development programs, as well as the valuation effects of peso depreciation against the US dollar and third currencies."