MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of the Treasury on Wednesday (Nov. 11) started selling one-year premyo bonds at an interest rate of 1.25 percent per annum, offering the IOUs online amid a pandemic and to reach Filipinos abroad who wanted to not only invest but also win prizes.
The Treasury was seeking to raise a minimum of P3 billion from new subscriptions as well as bonds switched with those sold in 2019 at a higher interest of 3 percent, which were maturing in December.
The domestic borrowings will add to the new high of P6.54 trillion in outstanding locally issued IOUs as of end-October–P5.63 trillion in T-bonds and P906.5 billion in T-bills–as the government intended to borrow more to finance the fight against COVID-19.
The premyo bonds, just like in 2019, will be sold at only P500 each, which will also serve as investors’ unique entries for quarterly raffles.
These will be made available through the mobile apps of Bonds.PH and the Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank), as well as the Treasury’s online selling platform on its website.
These bonds will be offered until Dec. 11, with settlement on Dec. 16.
The Treasury is enjoining holders of 2019’s premyo bonds to switch ahead of the Dec. 18 maturity of their current bonds. Those who will switch will still qualify for the grand raffle draw of the 2019 bonds.
During the quarterly raffle draws, bondholders will not only get a chance to win cash prizes of up to P1 million but also brand new cars.
Small investors with placements of P500 up to P20,000 will be included in quarterly special raffles where 20 of them will be drawn to win P50,000 tax-free.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said this was one way to spread prizes to all investors as larger investors, like cooperatives, mutual benefit associations, provident funds and retirement funds, had a bigger chance of winning because they usually held more bonds, hence, more raffle entries.
In 2019, the Treasury sold P4.9 billion in premyo bonds and jacked up cash prizes on top of four house-and-lot or condo units offered in the raffles.
While the interest for the new bonds was lower than 2019’s, De Leon said the rate was still “higher than time deposit, and there are bigger rewards and more chances of winning.”