Gov’t to hold marketing sortie for $2-B retail Treasury bonds issuance
MANILA -The national government will start this week marketing efforts in preparation for the issuance of $2 billion worth of dollar-denominated retail Treasury bonds, which is expected to finally happen this coming September based on the latest plans.
The Marcos administration’s economic team has set out for New York in yet another sortie, plus a visit to Toronto in Canada to oblige requests from investors for an economic briefing.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said in a press briefing that for this latest foreign currency RTB, the minimum investment threshold was lowered to $200 in order to attract more retail investors.
The previous US dollar RTB tranche was issued in 2021 when the government raised a total of about $1.5 billion from the exercise. Back then, the minimum amount needed to participate was $300.
De Leon said the latest issuance is ready at last after they have completed efforts to coordinate with partner channels, particularly banks, on making investing in the RTBs easy and convenient.
She said this included making the opening of US dollar bank accounts, and enabling access to the RTBs in platforms like mobile applications.
The RTBs are meant mainly for Filipinos who are based abroad, but even those who are here in the Philippines may subscribe to the bonds. They may also do so using Philippine pesos, which may be converted to US dollars through the transaction process.
De Leon reiterated that this latest RTB was more about giving Filipinos an avenue to investing in fixed-income instruments and widening their investing options.
“We still have enough cash and no urgent need to raise more funds,” she said.
The National Treasurer added that the economic team was made aware of significant interest in dollar RTBs among Filipinos abroad during their various foreign sorties earlier this year.
There was also significant interest among those who experienced investing in dollar RTBs in the previous issuance two years ago.
When asked whether the government will also push ahead with the issuance of a euro-denominated RTB, de Leon said this may have to be done later. “We can do that next year.”
Gov’t considering issuance of $2B-$3B in RTBs
