DOF plans to tap domestic debt market for initial P13.5-B Marawi bond issue
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government announced on Tuesday its plan to borrow an initial amount of P13.5 billion (about $241 million) from local retail investors to help raise funds for the revival of battle-scarred Marawi City in Mindanao.
Citing a report from the Bureau of the Treasury, the Department of Finance said the first tranche of “Marawi Bonds Series” would be implemented using the “online retail treasury bond format.”
“As we need money later on, we will issue more bonds,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.
In a rousing address to troops in October last year, President Rodrigo Duterte declared the principal Islamic city of Marawi liberated from ISIS-linked terrorists after five months of fighting that gave state forces their first taste of urban warfare.
Mindanao has been placed under martial law until the end of this year as a result of the deadly siege, which eerily brings to mind the bombed-out cities of Raqqa or Mosul in the Middle East.
According to the DOF, the initial bond sale would have an appropriations cover of the same amount based on the P10 billion allotted this year under the national budget for the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (BMCRRP), and another P3.5 billion for 2019.
The Finance department added that the generated funds would be used on top of other sources for a total of $541 million. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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