MANILA – The national government will pay its remaining PHP300-billion bridge financing from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) by June 12, 2022 as state revenue collection continues to improve.
This was disclosed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during the Philippine economic briefing on Tuesday.
“The national government has started reducing our provisional advance arrangements with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from PHP540 billion to PHP300 billion. This amount will be totally paid off by June 12 of this year,” he said.
The BSP has extended funding accommodation to the national government since 2020 to boost its cash position vis-à-vis pandemic-related expenses.
The first one is through a PHP300-billion reverse repurchase (RRP) agreement in March 2020, and then followed by three PHP540-billion provisional advances, all of which have been repaid.
The BSP, under Republic Act 7653 or the New Central Bank Act, is allowed to extend provisional advances to the national government equivalent to 20 percent of the latter’s average revenues in recent years. (PNA)
