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THE
national government will sell more peso-denominated
debts worth more or less P35 billion, Finance
Undersecretary and Acting Treasurer Roberto Tan
confirmed Tuesday.
The
additional peso borrowing will be on top of another P40
billion in foreign-currency bonds the Department of
Finance anticipates selling later this year.
The
planned borrowings put into action what Tan’s boss,
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, strongly hinted at
earlier about the need to finance the unexpected
government spending program this year.
“We plan
to issue more peso debts this year,” Tan said Tuesday at
the conclusion of the sale of five-year bonds that
generated P7 billion.
He told
reporters they have not yet decided on the manner by
which the additional funds may be raised, which could
come in the form of a regular auction or an
over-the-counter sale.
He also
could not tell how the overseas fundraising program will
be executed at this point because a portion of it will
be sourced from commercial sources.
According to Tan, the bulk of the additional overseas
borrowings will be sourced from bilateral sources, more
known as official development assistance packages or
ODAs.
Teves
previously said they abandoned the balanced-budget
approach this year on account of additional spending
pressures arising from the need to subsidize food and
oil consumption by poor Filipinos.
Teves
also previously said he planned to sell dollar bonds
worth $500 million up to $750 million to help underwrite
the cost of the subsidies.
The
local currency equivalent of this particular borrowing
approximates P40 billion.
Neither
Tan nor Teves dropped any hint as to the timing of the
bond sales.
But
later, Tan said they wished to tap the potential
presented by the continued sale of government assets
seen to generate approximately P30 billion this year.
The
assets eyed for eventual disposition include the Food
Terminal Inc. and the government’s residual share
ownership in the country’s largest power-distribution
utility, Manila Electric Co. |
