Gov’t plans to borrow P160B in September
By Beatrice M. Laforga, Reporter
THE National Government is looking to raise P160 billion from the domestic market in September, after the issuance of 35-day papers was shelved as the central bank plans to offer its own securities.
According to an advisory posted Thursday, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said it will borrow P100 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills) and P60 billion via the Treasury bonds (T-bonds) next month.
Auctions for T-bills will be held weekly, while T-bonds will be offered fortnightly.
The BTr will auction off P5 billion worth of 91- and 182-day debt papers each, and P10 billion worth of 364-day securities every Monday.
The Treasury is also planning to raise P30 billion from the issuance of three-year T-bonds on Sept. 11, and another P30 billion from 10-year notes on Sept. 24.
However, it will no longer offer 35-day T-bills every other week unlike the previous months. The Treasury reintroduced the tenor in its borrowing program in April to offer to accommodate the demand for short-tenored securities.
A bond trader said the decision not to offer the 35-day instruments next month may have considered the upcoming issuance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) own securities.
The central bank in July said it will launch its own securities within the third quarter, which will reportedly be offered in small volume with short-term maturities.
“The move to go back to 10-year (papers) is not a surprise given the disappointing 20-year auction. While issuing a 3-year paper (assuming it’s a new bond) makes sense because we lack a proper benchmark on that space and many are still looking to extend to one to three years for slight yield pickup,” the trader said via Viber on Thursday.
The September borrowing plan is lower than P170 billion originally programmed for August.
However, the BTr raised P143.033 billion from the local market this month, broken down into P113.033 billion in T-bills and P30 billion in T-bonds.
The Treasury rejected all bids during the Aug. 25 auction for the 20-year T-bonds after rates shot up.
It also raised a record P516.3 billion from its offer of five-year retail Treasury bonds earlier this month. The bonds fetched a coupon of 2.625% amid strong liquidity in the market.
The government is looking to borrow around P3 trillion this year from local and foreign lenders to plug a budget deficit that may hit 9.6% of gross domestic product.
It plans to maintain a 74:26 borrowing mix in favor of domestic sources to mitigate external volatilities and shocks.
