At least P65 billion worth of Regional Treasury Bonds will be offered by the Bureau of Treasury on the retail market to convince people to venture in alternative savings opportunities and diversify their investments.
William Beluso, legal service department head of the Bureau of Treasury, said 15 accredited selling agent banks will decide whether or not to increase or decrease the amount of RTBs to be offered to the retail market depending on the demand.
Under this year’s offering of the RTBs, the interest of the RTBs having a minimum amount of P5,000 will be 3.5 percent per annum with a net interest of 2.8 percent after the charging of the 20-percent withholding tax.
For the past 13 years that the Bureau of Treasury had been publicly offering RTBs to the retail market, the government generated P1.4 trillion which helped bankroll the implementation of priority development projects that were able to trigger economic activities in the countryside.
“The public offering of RTBs is not actually in response to the numerous investment scams that emerged in the country over the past several years which resulted in the loss of billions of pesos of hard-earned money of the people. The RTBs are guaranteed by the government that is why there is no fear that the money of the buyers will get lost during the 10-year period,” Beluso stressed.
The RTBs will be offered until September 16 while the bonds will subsequently be released to the buyers on September 20.
The treasury official underscored clients could purchase the RTBs at par during the offer period. RTBs bought in the secondary markets be subject to market forces.
According to Beluso, the advantage of RTBs is that they are readily available, accessible to the selling agents and guaranteed by the government. It could be converted to cash when sold on the secondary market.
He explained the annual interest of the RTBs will be credited to the account holders on a quarterly basis minus the 20 percent withholding tax.
Beluso said the safest mode of keeping and saving hard-earned money will be the purchase of RTBs from accredited selling agent banks.