Government borrowing is about to reach PHP16 trillion as the Marcos administration continued borrowing from both domestic and foreign sources.


The Bureau of Treasury information showed that the national government’s total outstanding debt has reached PHP15.89 trillion as of September, with three months still left before the end of the 2024 fiscal year.



The national treasury data indicated a double-digit hike of 11.4 percent or an increase of PHP1.63 trillion from last year’s PHP14.27 trillion total.



The agency insists that the the debt level remains manageable considering that 68 percent were borrowed from local lenders and only 31.2 percent came from foreign borrowers.



“Domestic debt reached PHP10.94 trillion as of end-September, a modest increase of 1.3 percent from previous month. This was mainly triven by PHP145.11 billion net issuance of new government securities, which was slightly offset by a PHP460 million decrease in the value of US-dollar -denominated securities due to the appreciation of the Philippine peso,” the BoT added.



During the start of the Senate delieration on the proposed PHP6.352 trillion national budget for 2025, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto presented to senators the figures on Philippine government borrowings from administration of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos to the present leaders under his son President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.


“Our total debt today is roughly PHP15 trillion, the sie of our economy is PHP26.5 trillion,” he said as he attempted to douse concerns over the continued rise in Philippine debt.



He said the country’s debt may balloon to as much as PHP20 trillion by the end of the younger Marcos’ term by 2028.



Following shows the progress of government debt from 1965 to kJune 2024, as presented by Recto:



Ferdinand Marcos Sr. (1965 to February 24, 1986) - P367 billion
Corazon Aquino (February 25, 1986 to June 29, 1992) - P739 billion
Fidel Ramos (June 30, 1992 to June 29, 1998) - P1.420 trillion
Joseph Estrada (June 30, 1998 to January 19, 2001) - P2.186 trillion
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s first term (January 20, 2001 to June 29, 2004) - P3.5 trillion
Arroyo’s second term (July 1, 2004 to June 29, 2010) - P4.6 trillion
Benigno Aquino III (June 30, 2010 to June 29, 2016) - P5.9 trillion
Rodrigo Duterte (June 30, 2016 to June 29, 2022) - P13.4 trillion
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (June 30, 2022 to present) - P15.5 trillion