ASIDE from advocating saving among Filipinos, an official from the Bureau of Treasury said the agency also aims to boost the capital market in the country.

Deputy treasurer Eduardo Mendiola, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu last Monday, said the government wants to improve the country’s capital market to allow Filipino investors to source funds locally.

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This way, he said, more entrepreneurs may be able to finance “productive activities” that will generate employment.

“We have noticed that many private companies have already started borrowing in the form of bonds,” he said. He cited San Miguel Corp. as among those that have availed themselves of such facilities.

Last Monday, the National Treasury brought to Cebu its roadshow for its eleventh tranche of retail treasury bond (RTB) offering.

Yesterday, the team went to Davao for its final leg.

Mendiola believes that investing in RTBs will allow “small investors” to learn about investing in bonds and will eventually lead to a higher savings rate among Filipinos.

Extra income

Small investors, Mendiola said, can be anybody from a teacher to a professional who has extra income that can be placed on a long-term investment.

But First Metro Investment Corp. executive vice president Roberto Dispo said, during Monday’s program, that most of the Filipinos’ concern on savings is where to get the extra money that can be invested.

He said that people should look into where most of the money is spent since at least P800 million is spent daily on texting, while another P4 billion monthly goes to purchases of skin whitening products. Aside from this, he said, Filipinos also spend on illegal gambling and in pyramiding schemes.

Safe

“There is so much liquidity going here,” he said. If Filipinos learn to prioritize, he said there will be enough that can be saved.

While investing on government security is safe and risk-free, Mendiola said that it is also an opportunity for start-up investors to soon invest “in better ways.”

“We’ve seen people invest in fraudulent vehicles. What we are also trying to promote is for people to have an alternative from illegal investments,” he said.

Although Mendiola said the bureau noticed a “big demand” for retail bonds, he said that this does not necessarily indicate that Filipinos are now becoming more financially mature.

“It is still a matter of time for Filipinos to be accustomed to this kind of investment. In the US (United States), people there are so used to investing in bonds that mature in 30 years. We are still trying to develop the market,” he said.

Although the bureau still would not know when the next RTB offering will be, he said that with the country’s P4-trillion debt stock, a series of offerings is needed before the government can pay it all off.