THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) kept the domestic borrowing program for February at P200 billion, the same level it aimed to raise from the local debt market this month.
The schedule of government securities offering the BTr released on Wednesday revealed government aims to raise P140 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bonds) and P60 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills).
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon told the BusinessMirror they retained the local borrowing level on the back of “good liquidity” in the financial system.
De Leon is also hanging on every word of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno: “We still have good liquidity and we are reassured by [Diokno’s] statement,” the National Treasurer said.
Earlier this month, the Central Bank governor said monetary authorities are unlikely to raise policy rates in the first half of 2022 as the BSP wants to make sure the economy is recovering well before looking into making some adjustments. In 2020, monetary officials cut main policy rates to record lows to provide massive support as the economy spiraled downward after Duterte ordered borders closed.
The BSP maintained this record low rate all throughout the year 2021 to keep borrowing costs manageable, especially for businesses. The Treasury maximized this opportunity and tapped the local debt market via selling government securities.
It appears the Treasury sees the opportunity still there early in the year as it plans to offer P15 billion in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills on January 31, February 7, February 14 and February 21.
The Treasury will be offering T-bonds on February 2, February 8, February 15 and February 22. Four-year T-bonds will be auctioned off on February 2 since February 1 (Tuesday) was declared a special non-working holiday with the celebration of the Chinese New Year.
Ten-year T-bonds will be offered on February 8 and February 22 while 7-year T-bonds will be auctioned off on February 15.
For 2022, the national government earlier programmed to borrow P2.47 trillion, down by nearly a fifth from P3.07 trillion in 2021.
The Treasury has yet to release a report on the national government’s outstanding debt as of December last year.
The debt stock was trimmed to P11.93 trillion as of end-November but this was still beyond the government’s expected level of P11.73 trillion. It dipped by P39.7 billion or 0.3 percent from P11.97 trillion as of end-October mainly due to the net redemption of domestic securities and favorable foreign exchange rates.
However, this was still a 17.7-percent surge from P10.13 trillion as of end-November 2020.
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