MANILA, Philippines - The country's local currency bond market grew by 12.1% in the second quarter on the back of higher borrowings by the national government, according to an Asian Development Bank report.
In a report, ADB said the local currency bond market hit P4.086 trillion in the second quarter from P3.646 trillion a year ago.
Most of the bonds outstanding were government securities, totaling P3.545 trillion. Corporate bonds totaled P541 billion.
In the second quarter, outstanding fixed-income instruments issued by the government and state-owned firms rose 12.5%, as Treasury bonds jumped 15.7%.
In the April to June period, the government sold P90.9 billion of short-term debt papers, while domestic investors bought P30 billion of Treasury bonds.
On the other hand, fixed income bonds issued by government owned-and -controlled corporations fell 8.5% in the second quarter to P113.5 billion.
The local corporate bond market jumped 9.3% to P541 billion in the second quarter from P495 billion in the same period last year.
During the period, Energy Development Corp. was the sole issuer of corporate notes, raising P14 billion worth of 7- and 10-year bonds.
The ADB noted only 51 companies were actively tapping the domestic capital market, with 31 issuers accounting for 92.2% of the total outstanding corporate bonds at end-June.
Most were publicly listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, and only 5 were private companies.
As of end-June, San Miguel Brewery was the largest firm issuer in the country with P45.2 billion of outstanding debt. Ayala Corp. followed with P40 billion and Banco de Oro Unibank with P38 billion.
Other top corporate issuers were SM Investments (P36.1 billion), Ayala Land (P31.2 billion), Energy Development (P26 billion), Philippine National Bank (P21.9 billion), Manila Electric (P19.4 billion) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (P17.3 billion).
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
