MANILA – Another P540-billion bridge financing has been extended by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to the national government, the third since 2020, aimed to provide liquidity to help finance economic recovery efforts.
In a virtual briefing on Thursday, BSP governor Benjamin Diokno said the P540 billion that the central bank extended to the national government has already been paid, which the policy-making Monetary Board approved last December.
“They asked for a renewal and the Monetary Board has approved it… last week,” he said.
The funding boost aims to ensure cash flows for various pandemic and economic recovery-related programs of the government.
The BSP first extended a provisional advance to the national government in October 2020.
This move is allowed under the BSP Charter, with the amount to be based on the average revenues of the national government in the past three years.
Aside from the cash advance, the BSP also entered a repurchase deal with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) for P300 billion worth of government securities, redeemable within three months but may be extended for another three months.
The BTr fully redeemed the debt paper in September last year.(PNA)
