PH eyes samurai bond sale in second half

The Philippines is looking at selling yen-denominated samurai bonds in the second half, although the bulk of total borrowings will still be sourced locally, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said on Tuesday.

“As you know, the Philippines always considers issuing a samurai bond in the second half of the year—that is our normal schedule. And, of course, we’re very pleased that the Japan Credit Rating Agency [JCR] has upgraded us to an “A-” status, which will definitely help in the terms and the cost of the financing in samurai bonds,” Dominguez said, adding that he did not have details of the planned issuance yet.

JCR’s upgraded credit rating for the Philippines was the country’s first in the coveted “A” grade level.

“The timely upgrade of the [JCR] to ‘A-’ affects not only the government bonds or issues, but it will also open the eyes of foreigners to the possibility of making foreign investments either through direct investments or through buying our bonds, more likely,” Dominguez said.A return to the samurai market this year will be the Philippines’ third straight year to issue yen-denominated securities in Japan.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of the Treasury was looking into a samurai issuance before Tokyo hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics originally scheduled in July, which had been postponed to next year instead.So far this year, the Philippines already issued euro-denominated and US dollar-denominated global bonds, proceeds of which would be spent for the national budget and the government’s COVID-19 response, respectively. INQ