Outstanding Treasury debt hits new high

The outstanding locally issued IOUs rose to a new high of P7.27 trillion as of end-April.

This followed the recent hike in the Bureau of the Treasury’s monthly domestic borrowing program.

The latest Treasury data showed outstanding T-bills increased to P1.06 trillion last month from P1.05 trillion in March.

Outstanding treasury bonds also increased to P6.21 trillion from P6.15 trillion in the previous month.

The weekly treasury bills offering was raised to P25 billion in April from P20 billion previously, while the bimonthly treasury bond offerings were upsized to P35 billion from P30 billion.

This was aimed at raising at least P170 billion each in April and May through auctions to take advantage of robust demand and easing rates. The Treasury has also been selling additional debt paper through its tap facility to the 11 government securities eligible dealers-market makers.

Last Monday, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the Treasury would continuously position the debt portfolio toward the domestic currency.

Of the record P3.03 trillion that the national government had programmed to borrow this year, P2.58 trillion or 85 percent would be raised mainly through the sale of treasury bills and bonds.

As of end-April, the outstanding 91-day treasury bills amounted to P138 billion; 182-day, P212 billion and 364-day bills, P710.4 billion.

Outstanding treasury bonds included P252.5 billion worth of bonds with a tenor of three years; P351.8 billion, five years; P518.1 billion, seven years and P719.6 billion, 10 years.

The outstanding amount of 10-year agrarian reform bonds was P7.9 billion; 20-year bonds, P420.3 billion and 25-year bonds, P235.9 billion.

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

Also outstanding as of end-April were P2.59 trillion in retail treasury bonds issued to small investors; P1.03 trillion in benchmark bonds; P50 billion in 25-year CB-BoL T-bonds; P24.1 billion in onshore dollar T-bond and P6.6 billion in one-year “Premyo” bonds.

Read more...