The government is set to raise NT$275 billion (US$9.44 billion) by selling Treasury bonds in the first quarter of next year to finance government debt and fund infrastructure construction, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Saturday.
The planned sale will be 111.54 percent higher than the NT$130 billion in bonds sold in the current quarter and 22.22 percent higher than the NT$225 billion sold in the same period last year, ministry data showed.
The first-quarter debt will include NT$235 billion in Type-A bonds tagged for debt repayment and special budgets and NT$40 billion in Type-B bonds for public works.
Under the ministry’s definition, Type-A bonds pertain to development funds that are not self-redeeming (or interest is not deductible), while Type-B debts are self-redeeming.
The ministry did not specify the total value of bonds to be issued next year.
The government sold a record NT$665 billion in Treasury bonds this year, compared with NT$620 billion sold last year and NT$610 billion in 2010, as it faces a NT$209.5 billion deficit following deficits of NT$142.6 billion last year and NT$167 billion in 2010.
The deficit figure is expected to increase to NT$214.4 billion next year, as the government’s annual budget for next year projects total revenues of NT$1.7302 trillion and overall expenditures of NT$1.9446 trillion, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in statement on Aug. 23.
In the Saturday statement, the ministry said it was also set to sell Treasury bills to help state coffers meet short-term capital requirement needs and to repay debt. The ministry plans to sell NT$65 billion Treasury bills in the first quarter, the statement said.
The government sold NT$265 billion in Treasury bills this year, compared with NT$291.2 billion last year, according to the ministry’s data.
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