Government borrowings fall by nearly 40 percent in March

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration’s gross borrowings fell sharply by nearly 40 percent in March amid lower domestic debt, offsetting the surge in foreign financing, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

Latest BTr data showed that total borrowings plunged by 39.4 percent to P116.66 billion in March from P192.45 billion in the same month last year.

Month-on-month, this registered a 75.6-percent decrease from P478.77 billion.

In March, domestic borrowings stood at P46.76 billion, 70.4 percent lower than the P157.80 billion in the same period in 2025. This consisted of Treasury bills amounting to P8.47 billion and P55.22 billion in fixed-rate Treasury bonds.

The BTr raised P132.40 billion in fixed-rate T-bonds in March 2025.

About 59.9 percent of total financing needs were sourced from the external market.

External borrowings more than doubled to P69.91 billion in March from P34.65 billion in the previous year, boosted by higher project loans of P19.05 billion and program loans of P50.85 billion.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the March figure reflected the front-loaded borrowings earlier in the year, ahead of the Middle East conflict that broke out on Feb. 28.

“These front-loaded borrowings gave leeway to the national government to reject high bids yields during the first full month of the war on Iran/Middle East in March 2026,” he said.

Ricafort added that there have been signals for the government to raise funds via global bonds in the second quarter, with about $2.5 billion on the shelf.

The extension of the annual tax filing deadline to May 15 is expected to boost seasonal revenue collections, potentially delivering a budget surplus and reducing the need for additional borrowing for now, he said.

First quarter borrowings

Despite the lower borrowings in March, first quarter figures still surged by 34.7 percent to P1.004 trillion from P745.14 billion in the same period in 2025.

The surge in external debt is due to the P161.29 billion raised from the sale of multi-tranche global bonds in January.

As of end-March, domestic borrowings increased by 62.2 percent to P731.10 billion, while offshore financing declined by 7.4 percent to P272.56 billion.

As such, the government has already used up around 37 percent of the P2.68-trillion borrowing plan it crafted for the year.

For the first three months of 2026, the deficit narrowed by 20.3 percent to P355.5 billion from P446 billion in the first quarter of 2025.