The Philippines is in no hurry for a global sovereign bond issue that is likely to be of $500 million, Acting National Treasurer Roberto Tan said yesterday.

Tan confirmed the government had secured the green light from the central bank to issue $500 million worth of foreign debt, cut back from an original $1 billion as the country lowers its dependence on foreign debt.

"We are not in dire need," Tan told reporters after the auction of a domestic three-year bond.

"We will find out when is the best time to tap the market. We are just monitoring the market."

Debt markets have been expecting the Philippines to issue the sovereign bond this month, as it did in January 2007, when it raised $1 billion in one issue.

Tan said the government had a "very healthy" cash position after it posted a P12.6 billion ($310 million) surplus in the first 11 months of last year, with the help of asset sales.

The impressive headline number has put Manila on track for a possible balanced budget in 2007, one year ahead of schedule.

The government wants to cut foreign borrowings and replace them with domestic borrowings to help curb the peso’s rapid climb. The peso has risen 2 percent against the dollar so far this year after gains of 19 percent in 2007.

Also in the pipeline are plans to sell retail treasury bonds for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) this year.

Tan said the government had picked state-lenders Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines to manage the OFW bond sale, but the offer size and guidelines have yet to be finalized.

"We might provide a dollar and a peso investment option," Tan said.

The plan to float such bonds has been endorsed by the central bank as a way to control money supply and as an investment scheme for millions of Filipinos working abroad. -Reuters