Gov’t aims to raise at least $200M from 2nd retail dollar bond offering
MANILA -The Bureau of the Treasury, in a notice issued on Monday, said the second outing for the dollar-denominated retail Treasury bonds – or Retail Dollar Bonds 2- will finally push ahead and will be launched on Wednesday, Sept 27.
The government is aiming to raise at least $200 million from this exercise.
BTr’s maiden outing, which racked up about $1.6 billion in proceeds, was in 2021 when it issued five-year and 10-year RDBs which are due in 2026 and 2031.
“We will launch the ‘Retail Dollar Bonds 2’ next week…” Finance Secretary Benjamin said in a briefing with journalists on Friday.
On Sept. 13, 2021, the BTr first issued a notice of offering for the first RDB, which were auctioned two days later to eligible dealers, and started to be offered to the public on the same day (Sept. 15).
Diokno said the national government was initially looking at raising $1 billion, but would decide on how much to raise depending on the market situation. The target was downsized to at least $200 million.
The finance chief announced the upcoming issuance following an investment promotion sortie that brought the Marcos administration’s economic team to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates last Sept. 10-12.
Diokno said that during the trip, then National Treasurer (and now member of the Monetary Board) Rosalia de Leon led financial literacy sessions with overseas Filipinos in Doha and Dubai to promote the Retail Dollar Bonds 2.
“This complemented similar financial literacy sessions for over 700 overseas kababayans across Europe, Japan, the United States, and Canada” in previous sorties, during which the RTBs were also promoted, he added.
‘Sukuk’ bonds
In earlier briefings with journalists, De Leon said the BTr intended to surpass the amount raised from the maiden RDB.
On Friday, Diokno said the economic team observed strong interest in the RDBs.
“This is a very good investment for retail investors, especially households with children in school,” he reiterated.
According to the BTr, interested lenders could invest as little as $200 or the peso equivalent of that amount.
Further, Diokno said the government was also considering a minimum offer volume of $1 billion for the planned maiden “sukuk” bonds.
The target is to issue this fixed-income debt instrument, which complies to shari’ah or religious laws of Islam, in the fourth quarter this year.
“These are Islamic issuances that will diversify the government’s sources of financing, widen our investor base, and boost investments in physical and digital connectivity,” Diokno said.
