Gov’t to borrow PHP 225B from local mart in November

THE NATIONAL Government (NG) plans to borrow PHP 225 billion from the domestic market in November, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.

The BTr released on Wednesday its borrowing plan for next month which is 50% higher than the PHP 150-billion program in October.

It will also be 58.8% more than the actual PHP 141.641 billion raised by the government this month.

In November, the BTr plans to borrow PHP 75 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills) and PHP 150 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bonds).

The government will offer PHP 5 billion worth of 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills on Oct. 31, Nov. 6, 13, 20, and 28.

For next week, the T-bill auction is scheduled for Oct. 31 (Tuesday) after Oct. 30 (Monday) was declared a holiday for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

The T-bill auction will also be held on Nov. 28 (Tuesday), since Nov. 27 (Monday) was declared a holiday. Proclamation No. 90 moved the Bonifacio Day holiday to Nov. 27 from Nov. 30 (Thursday).

For the long-term tenors, the BTr will auction off PHP 30 billion in five-year bonds on Oct. 31, seven-year debt on Nov. 7 and 10-year bonds on Nov. 14.

It will also offer PHP 30 billion in 15-year bonds on Nov. 21 and six-year bonds on Nov. 28.

ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said there are more planned borrowings in November since there are more auction dates compared with October.

“With the government indicating it would be spending to support sagging economic growth, the BTr appears to be ensuring funding for such spending,” he said in a Viber message.

The BTr scheduled fewer auction dates in October as it also launched its retail dollar bond offer. The government raised $1.26 billion from its first retail dollar bond offer under the Marcos administration.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the government had frontloaded the borrowing requirements before the seasonal lull in borrowings in December.

Higher interest rates and bond yields since July would justify the hedging of the government’s borrowing requirements, he said.

The gross domestic borrowing program this year is set at PHP 1.654 trillion, composed of PHP 54.1 billion in T-bills and PHP 1.6 trillion in fixed-rate T-bonds.

The government borrows from local and external sources to help fund a budget deficit capped at 6.1% of the gross domestic product this year. – Keisha B. Ta-asan, Reporter