MANILA – Fitch Ratings has assigned a “BBB” rating on the Philippines' latest US dollar bond offering, same as the debt rater’s rating on the country, which has a Positive outlook.
The Philippines on Monday offered 10- and 25-year US dollar-denominated bonds overseas and National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said they expect to issue a benchmark volume of about USD500 million to USD700 million.
Proceeds of the bond issuance will be used to boost government financing this year.
President Rodrigo Duterte said borrowings would be used to help finance coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response program if the savings and allocation that has been realigned from this year’s national budget is not enough to cover programs addressing the impact of the pandemic.
The government has formulated a four-pillar program amounting to PHP1.4 trillion to help Covid-19 affected sectors.
Included in the program is the disbursement of PHP205 billion financial subsidy for 18 million poor households in the informal sector and PHP51 billion wage subsidy program for employees working in small businesses.
This program will be financed with the help of up to PHP310 billion loans from multilateral institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB). (PNA)
