ROSALIA V. DE LEON will be returning to her post as National Treasurer, according to Finance department, as she comes back from her two-year assignment to the World Bank.
Jan 262017
Oct 042013
MANILA, Philippines – The government is looking to prepay its 2014 borrowings requirements to take advantage of the country’s low interest rates and excess liquidity. “We need to be flexible. We’re considering several options including possible prefunding to lock in currently low interest rates as well as increased investor appetite,” National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said in a text message. De Leon said the government is hoping to tap the P1.4 trillion funds expected to exit the Bangko Sentral’s special deposit accounts (SDAs). Banks were given until the end of November to withdraw all funds from the SDA facility. Budget and management Secretary Florencio Abad said the county’s deficit is expected to ease further this year if the Supreme Court fails to lift an order stopping the release of the remaining P14.7 billion out of the P24.7 billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) this year. Abad said a lower deficit will translate to lower borrowing needs for the government , lower liabilities and huge interest payment savings. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 As of end-July this year, the government’s deficit stood at P104.51 billion, still well below its full-year forecast of P238 billion. The Philippines plans to raise nearly all of its debt requirements locally amid near record low interest rates and a highly liquid financial market. The Aquino administration has programmed to borrow P735 billion of debt this year (P630.6 billion locally and P104 billion overseas). Domestic borrowings are mostly composed of the usual Treasury Read More …
Jul 122013
MANILA, Philippines – The national government has proposed a slightly lower borrowing program for next year, with the bulk still to be financed locally in a bid to take advantage of huge domestic liquidity, the National Treasurer said. A total of P714.6 billion will be borrowed by the Aquino administration next year, 2.78 percent down from this year’s P735 billion, said Rosalia de Leon in a phone interview with The STAR on Friday. “The borrowing mix will be 87 percent to 13 percent, in favor of domestic borrowings,” she said. Broken down, funds to be raised in the domestic market will amount to P620 billion, a decline of 7.44 percent from the programmed P669.8 billion this year. “We still expect strong appetite for government securities even in terms of tenor. Definitely, we see strong demand in the long-end of the curve,” De Leon said. Inflation is expected to remain benign, she explained, and thus that would drive investors to seek for higher yields which will be found in longer-termed papers. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 On the foreign market, De Leon said a total of P94.6 billion, equivalent to $2.2 billion, may be raised through bond flotations and official development assistance (ODA) from multilateral financial institutions. Of the total foreign financing, $1 billion may be sourced through offshore bond issuances, while the remaining amount of $1.2 billion may come from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, among others. The planned external borrowings for 2014 will Read More …
Jun 262013
MANILA, Philippines – Volatility in the financial markets could last for months, but the Philippines will survive given its strong fundamentals, officials said yesterday. “These are interesting times again,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a speech before financial officers in The Asset Forum in Makati City. The central bank chief said the “furor” would “subside” once investors get a complete grasp of the US Federal Reserve’s pronouncements that it may scale down stimulus measures this year. Investors have been rattled by concerns cheap money from the $85-billion monthly bond buying program of the US would end soon, prompting them to reposition their holdings back to the world’s largest economy. The volatile scenario “will be there for a while, possibly for months,” said International Monetary Fund resident representative Shanaka Jayanath Peiris in the same forum. But for National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, what is important is that the Philippines is in a better position than it was five years ago. “The Philippines is no stranger to heightened volatility,” she said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The sentiment-led slump in the region led to a drop in the Philippine Stock Exchange index by as much as 6.5 percent to the “bear” territory last Tuesday. Yesterday, it closed up 5.7 percent at 6,118.94. The volatility also hit the foreign exchange market, with the peso touching the 44-peso level versus the greenback last Monday before it recovered to close at 43.43 yesterday. “There is Read More …