Gov’t IOUs rose to P4.44T in 2017

The total amount of outstanding government-issued IOUs at end-2017 rose to P4.44 trillion as the Bureau of the Treasury sold a record-high volume of retail treasury bonds (RTBs) in December.

The combined value of outstanding treasury bills and bonds as of the end of last year increased from end-November’s P4.207 trillion, the latest Treasury data showed.

As of end-2017, treasury bonds still accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt paper with a face amount of P4.126 trillion, up from P3.871 trillion in November.

To recall, the Bureau of the Treasury raised P255.4 billion from its sale of RTBs to small investors last month.

The government’s 20th RTB issuance was the biggest to date.

As such, the amount of outstanding RTBs rose to P1.2 trillion, including P181.9 billion from the sale in April last year and P100.1 billion in September 2016.

In its first 18 months in office, the Duterte administration already embarked on three RTB issuances.

Among the outstanding T-bonds, three-year IOUs reached P45 billion; five-year debt paper, P315.3 billion; seven-year treasury bonds, P596.7 billion; and 10-year T-bonds, P408.4 billion.

As for 10-year agrarian reform bonds, the outstanding amount was P7 billion; 20-year IOUs, P319.3 billion; and 25-year debt paper, P235.9 billion.

Of the $6.582-million Philippine Par Bond redenominated into 28.5 years, P97.1 million remained outstanding.

Also outstanding were P909.3 billion in benchmark bonds; P50 billion in 25-year CB-BoL T-bonds; and P24.9-billion onshore dollar T-bond.

Meanwhile, outstanding treasury bills amounted P314.4 billion at end-2017, down from P336.4 billion a month ago.

For the outstanding T-bills, P85 billion was from the auction of 91-day IOUs; P105.1 billion from 182-day debt paper; and P124.2 billion from 364-day treasury bills.