FINANCE Secretary Margarito Teves now has authority to sell $500 million in foreign-currency bonds, but is reportedly reluctant to do so.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amado Tetangco Jr., on the other hand, wants Teves to go ahead and sell them to help cushion the peso’s slide.

This development emerged Friday after the monetary board, the BSP’s policymaking body, approved the sale of $500 million worth of bonds to help Teves bridge the year’s budget deficit.

Official sources said Teves is not keen on selling foreign currency bonds as he is ahead of his fiscal goals and, therefore, has no compulsion to borrow.

In fact, the sources said, Teves reported a deficit of only P18.8 billion in the first five months, sharply down from P41.8 billion a year earlier.

“Teves is on track as far as revenues are concerned, and that is why he is reluctant to push for a bond sale at this point,” sources stressed.

Such a sale, however, was just the transaction the BSP needs at this point, when the peso is losing ground to the US dollar.

The peso averaged sharply lower to only P45.381 per dollar last Friday, or P1.10 lower than the average rate of P44.281 in June.

Such a fall requires the BSP to “intervene” at key points by selling some of its dollar holdings.

According to monetary officials, Treasury chief Roberto Tan “has no definite plan as to when he sells the bonds and who to borrow the money from.”

Tan could sell as much $750 million depending on the requirements of his boss, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, who already made his sentiment known to the monetary board, according to sources.

Teves was hopeful he could cap the P75-billion programmed deficit at P45 billion before asset sales proceeds of some P30 billion.

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