Philippines says may still issue dollar bonds

Published: 22 Jun 2009 19:41:59 PST

MANILA, June 23 - The Philippines reserves the option to tap the dollar bond market to finance its budget deficit, even though it has signed an agreement on the issue of Samurai bonds, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Tuesday.

"We have to make sure that the pricing of the Samurai bonds will be competittive," Teves told reporters. "We haven't closed the door on other sources of funds."

Japan's Bank of International Cooperation has agreed to guarantee 95 percent of up to $1 billion of yen-denominated bonds issued by the Philippines, another Finance Department official said.

The government expects this year's budget deficit to balloon to a record 250 billion pesos ($5.14 billion), or 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), as a slower economy thins tax collection.