The Philippines’ sovereign debt further increased in August, hitting a new record of P14.35 trillion at the end of the month, the Bureau of Treasury said on Monday.

The country’s total debt increased by P105.28 billion or 0.7 percent from July “primarily due to the peso depreciating from 54.834 to 56.651 against the US dollar,” Treasury said. 

“Peso depreciation against the US dollar caused a P146.85 billion upward revaluation of US dollar-denominated debt in August, although partially offset by the P22.11 billion downward revaluation of the third currency debt component.” 

Of the total debt stock, 31.8 percent were foreign borrowings while 68.2 percent were borrowed domestically. 

Domestic debt as of the end of August settled at P9.79 trillion. 

Foreign debt meanwhile hit P4.56 trillion, which was P126.52 billion or 2.9 percent higher month-on-month due to the weaker peso.

A Congressional think tank earlier warned that the Philippines' debt burden has been growing faster than the overall budget increase.

The Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) said over half of the 2024 budget can no longer be allocated to productive expenses.

While the national government's expenditure program has been steadily going up, the rate of its increase is much slower than the growth of the debt burden since 2021.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier described the country’s debt situation as “worrying” and that the debt-to-GDP ratio was “not ideal.”

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