The Philippines on Wednesday started selling US dollar-denominated bonds to raise at least $1 billion to augment the budget and finance the protracted fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government’s last hurrah in offshore commercial borrowings for the year targeted a benchmark-sized issuance—usually about $500-700 million—for each of the two tenors of 10.5 and 25 years.
At the height of the lockdown in April, the Bureau of the Treasury also sold $2.35 billion in 10- and 25-year global bonds at record-low rates, which the government included in its COVID-19 war chest.
The Treasury had also issued euro bonds but did not sell renminbi-denominated panda and yen-denominate…
Keep on reading: PH to raise at least $1B from bond sale