RTB sale hikes outstanding gov’t IOUs to P5.4T in February

As government securities such as the retail treasury bonds (RTB) offered last month appealed to investors amid uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak, the amount of outstanding IOUs sold by the Bureau of the Treasury locally jumped to P5.4 trillion in February.

The latest Treasury data showed that the outstanding treasury bills and bonds issued by the national government climbed from P5.1 trillion last January.

Outstanding treasury bills rose to P533.5 billion last month from P483.5 billion in January, while treasury bonds amounted to P4.9 trillion, up from P4.6 trillion a month ago.

Of the treasury bills, P121.5 billion were from the auction of the benchmark 91-day IOUs, P142.5 billion from 182-day debt paper, and P269.6 billion from 364-day securities.

As for the treasury bonds, three-year IOUs had a face amount of P153.5 billion; five-year debt paper, P291.5 billion; seven-year securities, P460.7 billion; and 10-year issue, P533.3 billion.

The outstanding amount for 10-year agrarian reform bonds was P8.7 billion; 20-year IOUs, P420.3 billion; and 25-year debt paper, P235.9 billion.

For the $6.58-million Philippine Par Bonds redenominated into 28.5 years, the outstanding amount was P97.1 million.

Also outstanding were P1.8 trillion in RTBs, P909.3 billion in benchmark bonds, P50 billion in 25-year CB-BoL T-bonds, P25.4-billion onshore dollar T-bond, and P4.9 billion in “premyo” bonds.

In February, the Treasury sold to small investors a record P310.8 billion in three-year RTBs at a coupon of 4.375 percent during the shortened, one-week offer period.

Of last month’s RTB sale, P250 billion were new money while P60.8 billion were generated from the switch offer for three-year RTBs maturing on April 11.

It was the government’s 23rd overall and the Duterte administration’s sixth RTB issuance.

The Treasury is looking into another RTB sale in the second half, officials said.

The government will borrow P420 billion locally—P240 billion in treasury bills and P180 billion in bonds—during the first quarter.

While the Philippines is on a wait-and-see as far as foreign commercial borrowings are concerned—hence deferring the planned sale of renminbi-denominated panda bonds in China this month, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon last Monday said “we should not discount the onshore market, which you see is very liquid.”