MANILA, Philippines — The Aquino administration will end the sale of retail bonds targeted at small investors ahead of schedule after demand exceeded the government’s ceiling, the Bureau of Treasury said Thursday.

National Deputy Treasurer Eduardo S. Mendiola said the government may raise a record P150 billion from the sale, higher compared with its previous retail bond issuance of P110 billion, which was a record at the time.

Mendiola said total bond sales reached P134 billion as of Wednesday, including P49.6 billion sold at the price-setting auction on Tuesday and purchases by state firms of P16 billion.

With the overwhelming demand, Mendiola said the government was no longer keen on offering a second retail bond issue this year.

He said the government would close the sale of its 20-year retail bonds on Thursday, and may likely end the sale of its 15-year notes Friday. The offering was supposed to be until February 29.

Mendiola said the response from retail investors shows they are no longer afraid of long-term investments, as a liquid secondary market in the paper offers them an exit route.

Data from the treasury bureau showed that the government sold P49.6billion of 5.375 percent bonds due 2027 and 5.875 percent debt due 2032targeting individual investors in Tuesday’s price-setting auction.

Eight banks were hired to handle the issue. They are FMIC, BDO Capital, BPICapital, Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank, China Banking Corporation and Deutsche Bank.

The issuance of retail bonds is part of the government’s savings mobilization program designed to make government securities available to retail investors and at the same time create savings consciousness among Filipinos.

The government has been tapping funds from individuals since 2001 and had raised more than P200 billion from the sale of the bonds with denominations as low as P5,000 in the past two years.