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THE government said it would push through with its
planned borrowing through the sale of peso-denominated three-and
five-year retail Treasury bonds (RTBs) starting on Friday.
In a notice, the Bureau of
Treasury said the size of the RTB offer will be at least P8 billion
to replace the amount that matured on July 1. The public offering
period would end July 29, and the debt papers issued on July 31,
2008.
“The final interest rate will
be determined through a Dutch auction,” the bureaau said.
The maximum interest rate for the
RTBs shall be calculated as the relevant interest benchmark rate
less 6.25 basis points, rounded down to the nearest one-eighth of 1
percent. The maximum rate shall be stated in three decimal places.
National Treasurer Roberto Tan
earlier said it is likely that the government could raise more than
P33 billion through the RTBs sale.
Maturing dates of the IOUs will
be on July 31, 2011 and July 31, 2013.
Unlike regular Treasury bonds,
RTBs cater to small investors because they can buy the investment
instrument for as little as P5,000.
Tan said yields on these
investment instruments would be based on market rates.
The government appointed BPI
Capital Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines and First Metro
Investments Corp. as joint issue managers for the RTB sale.
The government last sold RTBs
last year, raising P77.65 billion in three- and five-year debt
papers.
In line with the new RTB
offering, Tan said the government decided to scrap two remaining
T-bond auctions this month, with a combined issue size of P14
billion.
“To provide a clear market for
the forthcoming issuance of [RTBs] Tranche 10 by the end of July, we
are canceling the remaining [T-bond] auctions scheduled this
month,” he said.
--Chino S. Leyco
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