THE government plans to borrow less during the second quarter of this year, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) revealed.
Based on data from the BTr, the government is programmed to borrow P315 billion for the second quarter of this year in the form of Treasury bills (T-bills) and Treasury bonds (T-bonds). The amount is 12.5 percent lower than the programmed borrowing of P360 billion for the first quarter and 3 percent lower than the borrowing level of P325 billion in the second quarter of 2018.
Broken down, the BTr is programmed to borrow P195 billion under T-bills for the second quarter of this year and P120 billion in the form of T-bonds.
“Basically, we look at the fund, the financing requirement in general for the whole year, so we assume that requirement will be met,” Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana said. “So regardless of the time of the approval of the budget we would need to operate as if it’s that 2019 funding that we’re funding.”
The auction for T-bills is set to happen on a weekly basis
and the auction for
T-bonds every fortnight.
During the April to June period, the Treasury is set to have 13 auctions for three-month, six-month and one-year IOUs at an offer size of P15 billion weekly. A total of six auctions is set for T-bonds for the period with an offer size of P20 billion each, with its tenors ranging from seven-, 10-, and 20-years for the security.
For this year, the national government has programmed its gross borrowings for both domestic and foreign IOUs at P1.19 trillion, which is higher by 20.7 percent from the 2018 level of P986 billion.
Broken down, external borrowings will account for P297.2 billion and domestic borrowings at P891.7 billion of the total. The government was said to be eyeing a borrowing mix of 75:25 for this year with domestic borrowings accounting for 75 percent and foreign borrowings at 25 percent.
The BTr earlier reported that the government is eyeing a Panda bond issue during the second quarter of this year, with the National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon participating in a nondeal road show recently mounted in China.