PH borrowings rose 118% in May on heels of panda, euro bonds sale

The national government’s gross borrowings jumped 118 percent to P126.1 billion in May following its successful panda and euro bonds offerings.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed combined gross domestic and external borrowings in May more than doubled from P57.9 billion during the same month last year.

Gross foreign borrowings climbed to P75.2 billion during that period from P2.5 billion a year ago.

The government secured from multilateral lenders and development partners P12.3 billion in loans.

The biggest chunk of foreign borrowing came from global bonds amounting to P62.8 billion.

The Philippines sold 750 million euros (about P44 billion) in eight-year global bonds at a coupon rate of 0.875 percent, ending the country’s 13-year absence in the euro market.

A week after the euro bond sale, the Philippines also sold 2.5 billion renminbi (P19 billion) in three-year renminbi-denominated panda bonds at a coupon of 3.58 percent, marking the country’s second straight year of tapping China’s debt market.

Gross domestic borrowings from the sale of Treasury bills and bonds, meanwhile, declined to P50.9 billion in May from a year ago’s P55.4 billion.

The Treasury issued P40 billion in fixed-rate treasury bonds and a net of P10.9 billion in T-bills that month.

For 2019, the government had programmed to borrow a total of P1.2 trillion.