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H1 CURRENT ACCOUNT GAP UP 51.7% TO $15.4B www.businessmirror.com.ph
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Monday, September 14, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 335
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Andrea E. San Juan
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HE Philippines spent more money than it earned on foreign goods, services and transfers as its current account deficit expanded by over 50 percent to $15.44 billion in the first half of 2026, a report from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed. Based on the central bank’s Balance of Payments (BOP) report for January to June 2026, the country’s current account gap widened by 51.7 percent from $10.178 billion in the January to June 2025 period to $15.436 billion in the first half of this year. Historical data from the BSP showed that the Philippines’s current account balance has been in
deficit for five consecutive years already. On a quarterly basis, this is the 22nd consecutive quarter that the current account stayed in the red—or since the fourth quarter of 2020. As defined by the central bank, the current account covers trade in goods and services, income earned from and paid to other See “Account,” A2
PBBM, INDIA TACKLE RAILWAY, SPACE, OTHER PROJECT TIEUPS By Samuel P. Medenilla
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RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led discussions on the country’s possible cooperation with India on the construction of three railway projects as well as obtaining space technology for weather forecasting during his two-day trip to New Delhi, according to Malacañang. The chief executive also met with several Indian firms to discuss updates on their ongoing expansion plans in the Philippines.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Acting Secretary Dave M. Gomez disclosed Marcos met with the Rail India Technical and Economic Service Ltd. (RITES) on Saturday to discuss how it can support the Mindanao Railway Project, a mass rail system in Cebu, and the extension of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) system from Tutuban in Manila. He said the Indian transport infrastructure consultancy of the Ministry of Railways can participate in the projects as See “Project,” A2
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BM Freshly Brewed September 7, 2026 | 10 AM
DR. BEAVER TAMESIS President and CEO of Asian Hospital and Medical Center
LEADING THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE DR. BEAVER TAMESIS ON INNOVATION, PATIENT CARE AND COMPASSIONATE LEADERSHIP
ANNE RUTH DELA CRUZ BusinessMirror Health&Fitness Editor
HEIGHTENED SECURITY AHEAD OF BARMM POLLS Army soldiers check the flow of vehicular traffic along a highway in Marantao, Lanao del Sur province, southern Philippines, on Sunday,
September 13, 2026, a day before the first-ever parliamentary elections of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Nearly 2.4 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots on Monday to elect members of the region’s first regular Parliament, marking a major step in its transition to an autonomous parliamentary form of government after decades of peace efforts. Security has been heightened across the region ahead of the vote, with Lanao del Sur having the highest number of areas classified by the Commission on Elections as high-risk or “red” areas. AP/FROILAN GALLARDO
End-June external debt hits record-high $154.9B
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HE National Government’s (NG) global bond issuances and loan availments for budgetary and development financing drove the country’s external debt to a record high of $154.93 billion at end-June 2026, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Based on the data, external debt, or the borrowings owed by residents to non-residents, increased by 4.1 percent to $154.93 billion as of the end of June 2026 compared to the $148.87 billion at end-June 2025. “The rise was primarily driven by the NG’s global bond issuances and loan availments for budgetary and development financing,” the central bank said in a statement. Meanwhile, on a quarterly basis,
the Philippines’s outstanding external debt increased by 5.14 percent from $147.35 billion as of the end-March 2026. According to the central bank, the quarter-on-quarter increase in the external debt stock was driven mainly by net borrowing activity of the National Government (NG) and private domestic banks. “This was partly offset by negative FX revaluation effects arising from the US dollar appreciation, and a modest decline in non-resident holdings of Philippine debt securities,” the BSP said in its statement over the weekend. As such, external debt as a share of gross domestic product increased to 31.6 percent from 30 percent in the previous quarter. The increase,BSP noted, reflected
the faster growth in external debt relative to economic output during the quarter. Moreover, the central bank said liquidity buffers remained strong despite higher near-term obligations. For one, while short-term external debt based on the remaining maturity concept (STRM) rose to $31.64 billion, BSP said it remained “adequately covered” by the gross international reserves (GIR) of $104.74 billion. The central bank explained that short-term external debt based on the remaining maturity concept is composed of loans with original maturities of one year or less plus amortizations on medium- and long-term accounts falling due within the next 12 months.
This placed the GIR-to-STRM ratio at 3.31, indicating “sufficient resources” to cover external debt obligations falling due over the next 12 months. Based on latest data, the BSP described the Philippines’s reserve coverage as still “robust” relative to other emerging economy peers. Meanwhile, BSP said debt service ratio, another indicator of capacity to service debt that compares the country’s loan payments with its income from exports and other inflows, improved to 9 percent from 9.2 percent in the same period last year. This, the central bank said, indicates that the country’s foreign exchange earnings continued to be “adequate” to meet repayments on See “Debt,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 62.5420 n JAPAN 0.4052 n UK 84.5380 n HK 7.9764 n CHINA 9.3186 n SINGAPORE 49.3273 n AUSTRALIA 44.7551 n EU 72.6175 n KOREA 0.0463 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.6557 Source: BSP (September 11, 2026)