THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) launched the 32nd tranche of retail Treasury bonds (RTBs) last Tuesday as retail investors continue to lap up shorter-tenor debt papers.
‘I think you already know the environment,’ National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza said during the launch of the 2.5-year bonds carrying a rate of 6.875 percent per annum, paid off quarterly.
Almanza considers the offer as ‘strategic.’
‘It’s strategic as well because given where the rates are and how defensive the market is, we want to also make sure that we are not adding additional costs for the government.’
The Treasury has been offering RTBs since 2022 at 5-year tenors. The last time it offered a three-year tenor RTB was in February 2021.
‘Where the demand is, it’s in the short to the belly-3 [years] to 5 [years]. But given the steepness of the curve, that’s why we want to be strategic and issue in this segment,’ Almanza said.
Hopes expressed
THE National Treasurer also expressed hopes that rates will moderate next year, in a nod to the continuous hawkishness of monetary authorities.
‘Definitely, we don’t want to lock in at a very high rate, right?’ Almanza said.
Last August, the Monetary Board raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points for the third time in a row, as a ‘preemptive move’ against the threat of El Niño, which os expected to worsen in the fourth quarter and drive up food prices.
While the central bank’s chief hopes the economy ‘won’t need another rate hike,’ Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli M. Remolona has said monetary authorities are prepared to tighten ‘as much as we need to.’ (See https://businessmirror.com.ph/2026/08/27/rate-hike-phl-shield-vs-el-nino-inflation/)
New money
ACCORDING to Almanza, the Treasury expects to raise P150 billion in new money with the 32nd tranche of RTBs, launched on the 25th year of the program.
Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go credited RTBs for having raised more than P6 trillion for the National Government since the program’s inception in 2001.
The latest tranche of RTBs is included in the borrowing plan of the Marcos administration in the fourth quarter, targeting local investors.
The latter can buy the government IOUs for a minimum amount of P5,000 and in multiples of P5,000 thereafter, during the offer period of September 29 to October 7, 2026.
RTBs ‘have given Filipinos a simple and accessible way to save and invest, while helping finance the development of our country,’ Go said.