BANGKOK, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Thailand plans to sell 130 billion baht ($3.41 billion) of government savings bonds in the current fiscal year starting in October to help finance the country’s budget deficit, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
Some 50 billion baht of bonds will be offered later this year, Patricia Mongkhonvanit, head of the ministry’s public debt management office, told reporters.
There was sufficient liquidity in the Thai market for government bond issuance, she said.
In the 2023 fiscal year, the government will focus on issuing medium-term bonds of 10-20 years because they were in demand and the yield on long-term debt rose, she said.
The government had no plan to issue dollar bonds, unless necessary, as they were more expensive than domestic borrowing, Patricia said.
Thailand will only borrow about 30 billion baht from international lenders such as the Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency, in the current fiscal year, she added.
Patricia said the government’s funding costs were about 2.34% at the end of August, down from 3.28% at the end of 2019.
Thai interest rates have started to rise after the central bank raised its key interest rate in August for the first time in nearly four years, but the rate is just 1.00% currently.
Thailand’s public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was seen at 60.65% at the end of September, still within the approved limit of 70%, Patricia said.
($1 = 38.17 baht)
Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon
Writing by Orathai Sriring
Editing by Ed Davies
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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