MANILA — The Philippines will remain active in the global capital markets and is eyeing not just a Panda bond issuance but also a Samurai bond issuance.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the country’s finance officials are working with the Bank of China for the internal and external approval of the yuan-denominated Panda bond, a debt paper issued in China’s capital market by a non-Chinese issuer. The Philippines could issue the debt paper in the latter part of this year.
Samurai bond, on the other hand, is a yen-denominated debt instrument issued in Tokyo by a non-Japanese issuer.
The Philippine government has an PHP889.7 billion gross financing program for 2018. Domestic borrowing was set at PHP711.78 billion while foreign borrowing was set at PHP177.94 billion.
“Our plan of borrowing 80 percent from the domestic market and 20 percent in foreign currencies remains unchanged,” Dominguez said.
“We will therefore remain active in the foreign markets,” he added.
The government has set a deficit ceiling of three percent to accommodate higher spending, particularly on its infrastructure program called “Build, Build, Build” with an infrastructure financing budget amounting to between PHP8-9 trillion until 2022. (PNA)