The Philippines' external debt expanded faster than the combined average of low- and middle-income countries in 2025, according to the World Bank's International Debt Report 2026, the lender's annual statistical review of what these economies owe to foreign creditors.

In the report, the multilateral lender said Philippine external debt rose 7.6% to $147.17 billion last year, against the 5.5% increase recorded collectively by low- and middle-income economies. The bank noted that the country's external debt stock was up 84.7% from the $79.7 billion recorded in 2015.

Public and publicly guaranteed external debt — government borrowings plus private obligations carrying a government guarantee — accounted for 63.67%, or $93.71 billion, of the Philippine total in 2025. Private non-guaranteed debt, or private-sector borrowing without such backing, stood at $33.23 billion, while short-term debt with maturities of one year or less amounted to $20.23 billion.

Within the public and publicly guaranteed segment, $41.69 billion was owed to private creditors, $40.67 billion to multilateral lenders and $11.36 billion to bilateral creditors. The Asian Development Bank accounted for $17.48 billion, while the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development accounted for $16.14 billion. Japan remained the Philippines' largest bilateral creditor, with outstanding debt of $8.83 billion, followed by France at $1.29 billion.

Despite the larger debt stock, the country's external debt relative to gross national income (GNI), the income measure the report uses to weigh debt loads, remained broadly stable at 26% in 2025.

External debt-service ratios also eased: principal and interest payments were equivalent to 11% of exports and 3% of GNI, indicators that show how much of a country's foreign earnings go to creditor payments. These ratios declined by 23.8% and 23.7%, respectively, from their 2024 levels. The report's exports measure covers goods, services and primary income.

Separately, the World Bank said Philippine public and publicly guaranteed external bond issuances through mid-August 2026 had already exceeded the full-year 2025 total. Because that tally stops in mid-August, the remaining months of 2026 issuance fall outside the report, leaving future editions to capture the full-year picture.

Globally, external debt across low- and middle-income countries hit a record $9.4 trillion in 2025, with the 5.5% increase marking the fastest growth since 2021. The World Bank attributed the pickup to a rebound in bond issues, a weak dollar and renewed investor willingness to lend.

“Private lenders returned, bond markets reopened, and governments found new paths to financing that had been closed off during the preceding years of rate tightening and risk aversion,” the bank said.

Total external debt-service payments by low- and middle-income countries rose for a fifth consecutive year, increasing 1.9% to $1.4 trillion in 2025.

“This means that more public resources are being absorbed by servicing debt at a time when countries need to invest more in infrastructure, jobs, education, health, and the foundations of long-term growth,” the bank said.

Even so, net transfers on long-term debt turned positive, with new financing exceeding principal and interest payments by $45.4 billion, reversing the $118.4 billion net outflow recorded in 2024. Future editions of the annual report will show whether the Philippines' above-peer pace of borrowing carried into 2026 and how the year's bond issuance ultimately settled.

— Justine Irish D. Tabile