MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration is eyeing to raise P140 billion in new peso debt next month through the sale of government securities as part of an ongoing fundraising activity to pay for the state's rising pandemic bill.
The government will raise a cumulative P80 billion by issuing Treasury bills due on 3, 6 and 12 months on four Wednesdays of February, the Bureau of the Treasury said in a notice on its website on Wednesday.
T-bill offers will be capped at P20 billion each week, similar with previous month.
The Treasury is also floating a total of P60 billion of bonds on February 4 and 18, with P30 billion worth of securities to be offered to investors on each auction date payable in 10 and 3 years.
The government borrows from domestic market to partially plug its budget deficit and pay old debts.
For this year, government set a deficit limit equivalent to 8.9% of gross domestic product on expectations of more higher state spending to help the economy rebound from the pandemic-led slump.
Already, officials are expecting to cap 2021 with P11.98-trillion of outstanding debt. Broken down, the Treasury plans to float P506 billion worth of T-bills and T-bonds amounting to P1.53 trillion this year.
Emerging government figures showed the budget deficit stood at P1.36 trillion last year, widening from P660.2 billion a year ago. At that level, the budget gap was estimated to account for 7.5% of GDP, a tad lower than the 7.6% program. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral