Gov’t to borrow P135B in 3rd quarter

NATIONAL TREASURER ROBERTO TAN. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

THE GOVERNMENT will borrow P135 billion locally through the sale of treasury bills and bonds during the third quarter as the Duterte administration decided to retain the borrowing program for the year.

In a July 8 memorandum, National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan said the Bureau of the Treasury would auction P20 billion in bills on July 18, Aug. 8 and Sept. 19.

For each of the treasury bill auctions, the Treasury will offer P8 billion with 91-day tenor, P6 billion in 182-day IOUs and P6 billion in 364-day debt paper.

The Treasury will also sell a total of P75 billion in bonds during the July-to-September period.

On July 26, the Treasury will auction P25 billion in seven-year treasury bonds; another P25-billion seven-year bonds on Aug. 16, and P25 billion in 10-year bonds on Sept. 6.

The total volume of offering for the third quarter was similar to those in the first and second quarters.

The Cabinet-level, interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last week kept the borrowing program for 2016 earlier set by the Aquino administration, which has a mix of 86-percent domestic and 14-percent foreign.

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno had said that the mix for the rest of the Duterte administration would be 80-percent domestic and 20-percent external.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said that while they leaned more toward domestic borrowings, they would borrow from whoever “gives us the best deal.”