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PH mulls tapping Samurai market in H1  

By Joann Villanueva

March 16, 2022, 7:51 pm

MANILA – The Philippine government is considering another Samurai bond issuance in the first half of 2022, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said. 
 
“Definitely, we are looking at the Samurai market but basically, we rely on our domestic market to the extent of 70 or 72 percent of our bond financing,” he said during the virtual Bloomberg Asean Business Summit on Wednesday.
 
The last time the government tapped the Samurai bond market was in March 2021 when it offered JPY55 billion worth of three-year senior unsecured zero-coupon fixed rate Samurai bond. 
 
Samurai bond is a yen-denominated debt paper issued in Tokyo by non-Japanese entities. 
 
The government taps creditors both here and abroad to help finance its programs for the year. 
 
Last year, the Philippine government was active in the debt market to boost its financing capacity given the added requirements brought about by the pandemic. 
 
Among its issuance last year include the PHP150-billion (USD3 billion) dual-tranche US dollar-denominated bond, EUR 2.1-billion multi-tranche global bond, and the JPY55 billion Samurai bond. 
 
Amidst the active participation in debt markets overseas, Dominguez said the government continues to largely rely on domestic creditors for financing boost. 
 
He said authorities “are developing our local capital markets together with the support of the monetary policies in reducing the reserve requirements of our banks here.” 
 
“So, again, we look at both markets but we depend more on our domestic capital market,” he added. (PNA)
 
 

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