MANILA, Philippines - The peso exchange rate stands at P43.59 to the US dollar, the closing rate on Monday at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx). The weighted average rate stands at P43.645.
10-YEAR T-BONDS FETCH 7.367%
The Philippine government decided at an auction on Tuesday to reissue its treasury bond due September 2020 at a yield of 7.367 percent, after rejecting some bids and awarding just over half of the offered amount to limit the increase in yield.
The bond was originally issued at face value last September as a 10-year bond, with a coupon of 6.125 percent. Total tenders for the P9 billion offered at Tuesday's auction reached P18.75 billion. The government accepted only P5.4 billion of the tenders to keep the yield from rising to 7.414 percent.
OTHER BORROWING OPTIONS EYED
The Philippine government is considering other borrowing options to fill its budget deficit if its planned samurai bond offering doesn't go ahead because of the disaster that hit Japan, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said Tuesday.
"We will defer to the procedures that the Japanese government will take," Tan told reporters.
The Philippines is in discussions with Japan Bank for International Cooperation for it to guarantee a proposed benchmark-sized samurai bond offering with a maturity longer than the usual 10 years. A samurai bond is a yen-denominated bond issued in Japan by a foreign entity.
"We have other alternatives," said Tan. (Dow Jones)
JAN. REMITTANCES UP 7.6% AT $1.48 B
Philippine expatriates sent home $1.48 billion in January, an increase of 7.6% from a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Tuesday.
Remittances in January last year reached $1.37 billion.
The central bank expects total remittances this year to reach $20 billion, up from a record $18.8 billion in 2010. Governor Amando Tetangco said on Monday the central bank will review its 8 percent growth forecast for remittances in 2011 and other balance of payments forecasts due to instability in the Middle East and North Africa.
FITCH GIVES RATING TO D.B.P. NOTES
Rating to DBP Fitch Ratings has assigned Development Bank of the Philippines' (DBP) proposed US$-denominated senior notes an expected 'BB(exp)' rating. The final rating is contingent on the receipt of final documents conforming to information already received. The agency has also affirmed the bank's ratings, including its 'BB' Long-Term Foreign- Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and its 'C/D' Individual Rating. The expected rating on the senior notes is identical to DBP's Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR, as the senior notes will constitute the bank's direct, unconditional and unsecured obligations and rank equally with its unsecured and unsubordinated obligations.
