The Department of Finance (DoF) may require additional borrowings in case it fails to sell the three big-ticket assets this year.

Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves, said the government is hard-pressed for additional revenues if it fails to sell the Food Terminal Inc. complex in Taguig City, the 10 percent stake in Malampaya Deep Water Gas to Power Project and the lease and development of Fujimi property in Tokyo this year.

In January to March, the DoF failed to dispose these three government assets due to unfavorable market conditions and issue on the pricing.

The government now expects to raise P30 billion through the sale of these state-assets in the second-quarter of the year.

The Philippines successfully raised $1.5 billion from the sale of US-dollar denominated bonds last January and another $1.1 billion from the issuance of Samurai bonds in the Japanese market last month.

The national government is in dire need for funds to plug its yawning budget deficit. It hopes to trim the budget shortfall to P293 billion or 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from an all-time high of P298.5 billion or 3.9 percent of GDP last year.

The government relies heavily on foreign and domestic borrowings to finance its budget shortfall as tax collections continue to be weak in light of the weak domestic economy due to the global economic meltdown.

The government intends to issue retail bonds to OFWs by end-April after getting the greenlight from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The DoF has already obtained the approval of President

Arroyo authorizing the Bureau of Treasury to sell up to $1 billion OFW bonds.
National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan, said it intends to issue OFW bonds with tenors of three and five years.

Underwriters of the planned issuance include Bank of the Philippine Islands, First Metro Investments Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, and Philippine National Bank.