LEGASPI CITY, ALBAY - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Wednesday that it had given the national government a clearance to seek offers from banks to arrange the proposed peso global bonds issue.

On the sidelines of the central bank's Legaspi branch inaugural ceremonies, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. said the national government has also got a go ahead from the Monetary Board to seek offers from banks on the planned dollar bond swap.

“There's no approval yet on the issuance of the peso bonds and debt swap. They just wanted a go ahead for their issue of request for proposals, which we gave,” Tetangco told reporters.

He, however, said the Department of Finance has yet to give the proposed size on the planned peso global bonds issue.

“The size will be determined after they talked with their potential underwriters,” Tetangco added.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima, who is also a member of the Monetary Board, earlier said the government is looking at selling at least $500 million worth of peso-denominated global bonds within the second-semester of the year.

But Purisima said the government has yet to decide on the tenors of the planned overseas borrowings in local-currency denomination.

“I think it should at least be half-a-billion dollars. That would probably the minimum because lower than that might not meet distribution requirements to achieve my goal of really establishing a market outside the Philippines,” Purisima said.

He added “it must be enough to accommodate all interested entities, but so far the rumor – I don't have direct knowledge, I just seen it from bankers – is that they've had many queries from foreign institutions about the peso global bonds.”

Purisima said foreign entities are keen in the country's first peso bonds issue as the world's financial markets are becoming integrated and they want to have exposures in all the markets, particularly in the Asian region.

“Timing really depends on the market, [but] within the second half, that's something I'd like to do.

Obviously there are processes that we have to go through, since it is the first time, there will be probably a need to have at least minimum call with investors, [and] I haven't had that call with investors,” he said.