Phl may borrow $750 M this year

MANILA, Philippines - The National Government is still open to raising the remaining commercial foreign borrowing requirement of $750 million from the external debt market this year, a ranking Finance official said over the weekend.

In an interview, Finance Undersecretary Rosalia de Leon said the Philippines wants to maintain its presence in the offshore market and to take advantage of strong appetite for Philippine debt papers.

 “We’re still thinking of doing that because we need to maintain our presence abroad,” she said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) wants the National Government to just tap the local debt market for its remaining borrowing needs to siphon off excess liquidity in the cash-rich domestic mart.

De Leon said that is also possible but to keep Philippine bonds actively trading in the offshore market, the national government needs to maintain its presence abroad.

However, she stressed that nothing is final yet and that the government may still end up tapping the local debt market to complete its commercial funding requirements. The final decision will depend on the government’s cash position and demand from investors.

“There is strong demand for our global peso notes,” she noted.

The government needs to raise the $750 million this year to fill in its commercial foreign debt borrowing program for the year of $2.25 billion.