MANILA: The Philippines is on track to at least match its previous record sales of retail treasury bonds, having sold 128 billion pesos ($3.1 billion) of 25-year retail bonds less than halfway through the public offer period.
The government will try to limit daily bond sales to ensure supply will last until the end of the public offer on Oct. 22, Deputy Treasurer Eduardo Mendiola said on Friday.
"I am being deluged by lots of orders," he told Reuters.
Manila has cancelled a treasury bill auction set for Oct. 15, and an Oct. 23 auction of 7-year bonds to make room for the offer.
Reynaldo Montalbo, senior vice president at First Metro Investment Corp, one of the issue managers, said the government has sold another 65 billion pesos worth of the bonds since it raised 63 billion pesos from an auction on Tuesday.
The government may raise as much as 200 billion pesos from its second retail bond offering this year, which could lead to lower debt issues in 2013. The current record for a retail bond sale is 180 billion pesos, set in February.
Manila has set the coupon rate for the 25-year retail paper at 6.125 percent, making it a more attractive investment than keeping money in a bank, which generally offer around 3 percent in interest on savings.
The retail bonds pay interest payments quarterly.
The Southeast Asian country borrows from the local and foreign debt markets to help fund its budget deficit, which is on track to undershoot this year's target of 279 billion pesos, or 2.6 percent of gross domestic product.
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