EU dangles euro bonds to diversify Philippines portfolio

MANILA, Philippines — The European Union is encouraging the Philippine government to consider investing in EU bonds to diversify the country’s portfolio and to further strengthen ties with the bloc.

“We are regularly reaching out, in particular to the Asian region, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, and now for the first time to the Philippines because we believe for the Philippines, it might be interesting and attractive to invest in euro-denominated bonds to diversify also their portfolio,” European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn told reporters.

Hahn was in the country from Sept.12 to 13 to promote investments in EU bonds as a safe asset, marking the first time that a European Commissioner for Budget and Administration visited the Philippines.

During his visit, Hahn met with Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier.

“We know that the huge majority of investments is in dollars but the euro became the second global currency and therefore it’s I think in a mutual interest to have more investments in euro,” Hahn said.

Apart from the Philippines, Hahn also visited Singapore.

Hahn said the Philippines was among the countries chosen for this year’s visit as it is seen as a very attractive and promising country.

“We also want to support this country in its effort to become a global player,” he said.

He said investing in EU bonds would also promote greater ties between the Philippines and the EU as many European companies are already investing in the country.

The EU has become one of the largest issuers in euro, issuing about €150 billion per year.

The European Commission has a diversified investor base of around 1,700 different investors from 70 countries.

As the Philippines and the EU are set to resume negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) next month, Philipp Dupuis, minister counsellor and head of the economic and trade section at the Delegation of the EU to the Philippines said this round of talks would involve an exchange of mutual expectations.

He also said he does not expect a target date to be set for the completion of FTA talks during next month’s negotiations.

“On our side, we always want to do this as quickly as the substance allows, but we never would sacrifice the quality of such an agreement to the speed of the negotiation,” he said.

Last March, then Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual and EU executive vice-president and commissioner for trade Valdis Dombrovskis announced that the parties would resume talks for the FTA soon.

Negotiations for the Philippines-EU FTA were launched in 2016, while the second round was held in 2017.

There were no FTA talks after the second round amid EU’s concerns on the conduct of the previous administration’s war on drugs.

The Philippines wants to fast-track the FTA negotiations with the EU to avoid disruptions in the preferential trade arrangement being enjoyed by Philippine exporters through the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which allows the duty-free entry of 6,274 products to the bloc.