Gov’t to borrow P250B in final month of Duterte presidency

In the last full month of the Duterte administration, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) plans to raise P250 billion by offering government securities to local creditors to boost state coffers.

In a memorandum dated May 25, the BTr issued the schedule of short-dated Treasury Bills and longer-tenor Treasury Bonds for the month of June.

Broken down, the BTr is planning to borrow from local creditors P75 billion in Treasury Bills and P175 billion in Treasury Bonds.

The national government plans to issue a total of P15 billion in Treasury Bills at P5 billion each for the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day tenors per day for five days—June 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29. The auction dates for the Treasury Bill issuances are set two days before the scheduled issue date.

Meanwhile, P35 billion worth of three-year Treasury Bonds will be issued on June 2, while the auction date is set for May 31.

Another P35 billion worth of Treasury Bonds is set to be issued on June 9 with a five-year tenor or maturity period. 

On June 16, June 23, and June 30, the Treasury would have issued P35 billion per day worth of Treasury Bonds with seven-year, 10-year, and another seven-year tenors, respectively.

National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said that the BTr's planned fund-raising initiatives this month were meant to increase funding for COVID-19 recovery measures and infrastructure development.

Incoming Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno intends to retain most of the undersecretaries of the Department of Finance (DOF), including De Leon.

The next administration will be left with the task of managing the country’s fiscal position after the outgoing Duterte regime incurred P3.2 trillion in additional debt following the COVID-19 pandemic, which could bring the debt level to P13.1 trillion by the end of 2022, above the original plan of P9.9 trillion.

The national government’s running debt stock climbed to a record high of P12.68 trillion as of end-March, bringing the debt-to-GDP ratio to 63.5%—the highest in 17 years and well above the internationally accepted threshold of 60%.

On Wednesday, the DOF unveiled a fiscal consolidation plan aimed at raising an average of P284 billion annually for the next 10 years to pay off the P3.2 trillion in additional debt incurred due to the pandemic.

The fiscal consolidation plan involves implementing new taxes, deferring personal income tax reductions, and expanding the value-added tax base. —VBL, GMA News