The Bureau of the Treasury has deferred anew the government’s planned US dollar-denominated retail treasury bond offering due to the weakness of the peso against the greenback.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the government is looking for a “good window” to sell its dollar RTB intended for small investors.

“We’re also looking at the good window because the peso today is hovering around 56. For those who are [investing in RTB but are] buying dollars with their peso, this is a little bit high,” De Leon told reporters during the Chat with SBED briefing.

“So, we’re looking for a more comfortable exchange rate so that investors would have upside,” she added.

With this, De Leon said their “moving target” for the dollar RTB issue is in the third quarter of 2023

The Marcos administration’s first US dollar-denominated RTB was originally slated for December 2022.

“We’re oozing with cash, so we also have to calibrate in terms of our borrowing,” De Leon said.

She also said that the Treasury bureau is discussing with its selling agent banks to waive certain fees for opening dollar accounts for overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

When asked about the size of the dollar RTB, De Leon said Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno tasked her to raise around $2 billion.

“Before we raised $1.5 billion, so hopefully we can surpass. Let’s say $2 billion, aspiration,” the treasurer said.

The first time the government offered a US dollar-denominated RTB was in September 2021 as part of the diversification of its funding resources.

It raised a total of $1.6 billion from the sale of five- and 10-year paper, higher than the initial target of $400 million.

Minimum placement for the retail dollar bond is $300, lower than the $200,000 minimum investment for the government’s US dollar-denominated bonds.