Debt servicing by the national government rose last year due to higher interest payments and amortization, Bureau of the Treasury data showed.
Data showed that total debt payments reached P2.103 trillion in 2025, up by 4.1 percent from P2.021 trillion in 2024. The increase was driven mainly by rising interest payments as the government continued servicing a larger debt stock.
Interest payments alone totaled P864.14 billion in 2025, up 13.2 percent from P63.31 billion in 2024. Local creditors accounted for almost all interest payments at P634.85 billion.
Fixed-rate Treasury bond payments accounted for P416.77 billion in 2025, followed by retail Treasury bonds (P162.74 billion) and T-bills (P44.97 billion).
Principal repayments, or amortization, reached P1.239 trillion in 2025, slightly lower than P1.257 trillion recorded in 2024, with local amortization accounting for the bulk at P1.015 trillion.
In December alone, government debt payments reached P78.64 billion, up 18.6 percent from P66.30 billion in December 2024.
Interest payments in December stood at P63.63 billion, higher than P57.98 billion in the same month in 2024. Of the total, P41.78 billion went to domestic creditors while P21.86 billion covered interest on external borrowings.
Amortization also rose significantly to P15.01 billion, nearly 80 percent higher than P8.32 billion recorded in December 2024, with P8.75 billion paid toward external obligations during the month.
The government’s outstanding debt reached a new record high last year at P17.71 trillion from P16.05 trillion a year earlier. It also exceeded the targeted P17.359 trillion cap for 2025.
Despite the new record high, the Treasury said the government’s debt portfolio remained resilient with the bulk, or 68.4 percent, having come from domestic sources.
Domestic debt increased to P12.12 trillion at the end of last year, up by P1.19 trillion, or 10.85 percent, and driven by securities auctions and a retail Treasury bond offering.
External debt, meanwhile, rose by P470.7 billion to P5.59 trillion via the issuance of new global bonds, availment of official development assistance and upward revaluations of foreign currency-denominated debt.
