As of the end of May, the country's outstanding debt had surpassed the P14 trillion milestone.
According to the most recent Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) figures, the national debt reached a new high of P14.1 trillion by the end of May, up 1.33 percent from P13.91 trillion the previous month.
The debt stock increased by 13% year over year to P12.5 trillion, which the government accumulated P185.4 billion in new obligations in May alone due to the issuance of both domestic and global debt.
With this, the Marcos administration's running debt reached P1.295 trillion in 11 months.
The current debt pile represents around 96.35 percent of the predicted P14.63 trillion in debt by the end of 2023.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno previously defended the Philippines' current debt level, explaining that it is not bad to borrow money, but where it is used matters.
The debt pile is anticipated to continue growing as the government plans to borrow P2.46 trillion next year, primarily from local creditors.
The cash would be distributed 80:20 between domestic and overseas sources.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said he believes that the government should borrow more next year.
Meanwhile, according to Treasury data, 70% of the debt pile was sourced domestically, with the other 30% sourced overseas.
Total domestic debt increased 1.38 percent on a monthly basis to P9.59 trillion, up from P8.67 trillion in May 2022.
External obligations, on the other hand, grew by 1.22 percent month over month to P4.51 trillion.
In the meantime, total debt-guaranteed liabilities increased by a percentage point to P384.52 billion.
