THE government will likely proceed with its retail dollar bond sale this quarter, the Bureau of Treasury said.
The government was originally planning to issue the retail dollar bond offer last year.
“We are doing all the marketing now. If markets are favorable, [issuance is] September. Late August or early September,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said during the weekly press briefing of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
De Leon said the government is aiming to raise USD2 billion from the said offering.
“We would like to talk to OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] to provide them an outlet for investing. In fact, we already reduced the minimum denomination. USD300 last time to USD200 now. This is also tax exempt,” De Leon said. “We have the platform already, our channels like BondsPH and the Treasury App.”
The government was able to raise as much as USD1.59 billion through its onshore retail dollar bond offer in 2021.
Diokno, meanwhile, said they are planning to promote the retail dollar bond sale during the Philippine Economic Briefing in Canada this week.
“We are going to float dollar-denominated bonds, there’s interest from our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) to invest in retail bonds,” Diokno said.
He added: “But you don’t have to be a Pinoy from abroad. Filipinos here can still invest. If you have an account, automatically convert to dollar.” (PNA)/PN
