The Department of Finance plans to issue another tranche of retail Treasury bonds or RTBs in the first quarter to increase government funds for social services.

This will be the 30th RTB issuance by the Bureau of the Treasury under the DoF, a statement from the finance department said Friday.

The DoF said the new bond sale will help the government raise a total of P2.46 trillion this year using digital tools.

Ordinary Filipinos investing

“The RTBs will encourage ordinary Filipinos to start investing in safe and stable sources of passive income, while promoting financial inclusion,” the DoF said.

“To further this agenda, the BTr is looking to engage more digital finance platforms, allowing the BTr to reach a wider investor base,” the government agency added.

The government will continue to prioritize domestic sources of funds at 75 percent of all borrowings over external borrowings at 25 percent share.

Last year, the government raised P1.87 trillion from Treasury bills and bonds, mostly consisting of P1.65 trillion domestic borrowings.

Second tranche

The Treasury bonds issued during the period included the second tranche of retail dollar bonds which raised P1.26 billion required a minimum investment of $200 and the maximum equivalent to P500,000 per transaction.

They had a maturity of five and half years and gross interest rate of 5.75 percent per annum.

Another was sukuk or Islamic bonds which raised $1 billion at 5.045 percent interest rate. They had a maturity of five and a half years.