Treasury bonds at P3.131-T as of November

MANILA, Philippines – The government’s outstanding Treasury bonds have reached P3.131 trillion as of November 30, according to the latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

The outstanding bonds issued have varying tenors of 3 to 25 years.

In the first quarter of 2013, the government is looking to borrow P120 billion from the local debt market, higher than the P90 billion programmed in the same quarter this year.

Of this amount, the Treasury will sell P45 billion worth of bills and P75 billion worth of bonds.

Because of the high level of liquidity in the domestic market, the Treasury has decided to increase the auction size, but cut the frequency of the debt sales to twice a month instead of weekly.

Under the new borrowing program, the government will auction off P15 billion worth of T-bills on January 9, February 6 and March 6 next year, for a total of P45 billion.

The P15 billion is double the current T-bill auction size of P7.5 billion.

The government is also set to auction off P25 billion worth of T-bonds on January 24 (7-year), February 21 (10-year), and March 21 (20-year).

The P25 billion is more than double the current T-bond auction size of P9 billion.

The multi-currency Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs) issued in 2010 and maturing in 2013 and 2015 are also part of the outstanding Treasury bonds, according to Treasury data.

For 2013, the government is still firming up plans on whether it will continue offering RTBs. National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the Treasury has to determine if RTBs indeed cater to retail investors as intended or are only chalked up by institutional investors. She added that the better option may be to stick to the borrowing program. – Rappler.com