MANILA - The Philippines is eyeing the issuance of euro-denominated bonds due to the clamor of investors, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Friday.
“When we were in Frankfurt, sabi ng mga taga Germany, bakit hindi Euro naman. So we are considering that. Wala pa naman, but I am sure there will be strong demand especially among the seniors. Marami silang pera," Diokno said during a meeting with the Makati Business Club.
"Hindi lang mga OFW, pero mga Filipino Germans who want to invest in our country, and participate. Kasi mataas ang return na ino-offer namin, tapos tax free pa," he added.
The Bureau of Treasury earlier announced a US dollar-denominated retail treasury bond offer for April. The government will also issue 5-year retail treasury bonds on Feb. 7 with the goal of raising at least P30 billion to refinance existing debt.
“I think the rates are kind of coming down because of renewed confidence. Let’s see what the market will bear. We floated, the most recent was the $3 billion, that was well received, many times over ang demand. We expect the same," he said.
Diokno added that the recent lower-than-expected rate hike by the US Federal Reserve is "good news" for the Philippines.
“It is good news as far as we are concerned. Instead of 50 bps, it is 25 bps. Again the BSP is data dependent, we will look at the data, we will look at inflation. We have a strong growth rate, it will be decided upon by the Monetary Board," he said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will hold a policy-setting meeting this month.
Diokno also said inflation likely peaked in December, which hit 8.1 percent. However, the BSP's estimate for January ranges from 8.1 to 8.3 percent.
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