Small Filipino savers can now take a piece of the government’s latest Retail Treasury Bond (RTB) sale.

Bureau of the Treasury office

The Bureau of the Treasury has launched an offering of five-and-a-half-year RTBs that fetched a coupon rate of 4.625 percent. The offer period runs until Nov. 26, which will be sold in multiples of P5,000.

On Tuesday, Nov. 16, the Treasury bureau awarded an initial P113.65 billion worth of the paper at a price setting auction against total tenders of P165.03 billion.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said proceeds from the new RTBs will be used to support the government budgetary requirement.

“The RTB attracted strong demand with tucked in premium over secondaries in consideration of larger volume and expectation of rates climbing up as era of loose monetary policies comes to a close starting with Fed taper announcement,” de Leon told reporters.

The bureau had cancelled the regular auction of five- and seven-year Treasury bonds scheduled on Nov. 16 and Nov. 23, respectively, to give way to the RTB sale.

Moreover, existing holders of RTBs maturing on Jan. 19 and 26, 2022 can also swap their holdings for the new 2027 retail bonds.

The last time the government sold debt to retail investors was last February, during which it borrowed P463.3 billion of the three-year papers, the second-biggest RTB sale on record.

The sale of RTBs form part of the government’s objective of encouraging Filipinos to save by lending their excess money to the government in exchange for a safe return on their investment.

In October, the Treasury bureau had raised $1.59 billion through the sale of maiden onshore retail dollar bonds.

The five-year and 10-year RDBs carried coupons of 1.375 percent and 2.250 percent, respectively. They were offered in minimum investments of $300 and multiples of $100 thereafter.

The Duterte administration’s maiden RDB sale followed the $3 billion global bonds sold in June, $2.5 billion euro-denominated bonds in April, and $500 million yen-denominated “Samurai” bonds in March.

This year, the government plans to borrow P3 trillion to bridge its projected budget deficit. As of May, gross financing stood at P1.713 trillion.(Chino S.Leyco)


Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2021/11/16/govt-sells-new-retail-debt-papers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=govt-sells-new-retail-debt-papers)