PH unable to secure P65B loan due to Ukraine-Russia war
The Philippines’ Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) was not able to borrow a total of P65 billion (US$1.2 billion) — including P15 billion (US$287 million) in T-bills— this month as rates are increasing due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said that “markets continue to ask for higher risk premium with deterioration in market sentiment”, resulting the bureau’s rejection of all bids for P5-billion (US$95 million) each in short-dated debt paper across the three tenors
Government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) sought an average of 1.577% yield for the benchmark 91-day debt paper, from 0.899% two weeks ago. At Monday’s auction, bids for three-month securities hit a high of 2.5% and a low of one per cent.
De Leon added that offshore bond issuance is also demanding higher yields due to the forthcoming US Federal Reserve rate hike this month, as well as the global inflation risks from the war.
The BTr had programmed P250 billion (US$4.78 billion) in borrowings this month.
For 2022, the government’s borrowings is expected to reach P2.2 trillion (US$42 billion), three-fourths of which were to be raised from the local debt market.
