Gov’t keeps P200-B domestic borrowing for Oct.


The Bureau of the Treasury maintained its domestic borrowing program at P200 billion for next month.

Based on the Treasury advisory Wednesday, Sept. 28, the October financing plan of the Marcos administration was unchanged from the program for September.

The bureau indicated that it will sell P60 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) and P140 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bonds) in October.

The Treasury will still hold a weekly auction for T-bills and T-bonds, offering P5 billion worth of each 91-, 182-day and 364-day long-term IOUs every Monday and issue them on Oct. 5, 12, 19, and 26.

Moreover, the agency will issue P35 billion worth of three-, six-, 10-, 13-year T-bonds on Oct. 6, 13, 20, and 27, respectively.

The maintained domestic borrowing program comes as the Treasury rejected all bids for the 16-year T-bonds as investors sought higher returns for buying the securities.

Had the bureau accepted the tenders, the interest rate on the debt papers maturing on Jan. 24, 2036 would have risen to 7.565 percent.

The average rate was higher than the 7.350- ercent fetched in the secondary market, based on the PHP Bloomberg Valuation (BVAL) Service Reference Rates published on the Philippine Dealing System’s website.

The government was supposed to sell 35 billion worth of the debt papers. Investors however were willing to buy P49.985 billion.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the government will continue borrowing mostly from the domestic debt markets under the Marcos administration.

For 2022, the government aims to raise P2.2 trillion to enable the economy’s strong and resilient growth, Diokno said.

“The Marcos administration plans to continue this borrowing mix by obtaining 75 percent or around P1.65 trillion from domestic markets to insulate the country from foreign exchange volatilities due to ongoing global uncertainties,” Diokno said.

In the first half of 2022, the government has already raised an estimated P741 billion.