The government will sell US$2 billion equivalent of Thai baht denominated (THB 60 billion) government savings bonds in February 2021 to help finance stimulus measures to mitigate the impact of the country’s latest coronavirus outbreak, the Finance Ministry said on 25 January 2021.
The government in mid-January announced a new stimulus worth US$7 billion (THB 210 billion) to support the battle against the spread of C19 that has infected 9,450 in just over a month.
The bonds will be offered in three maturities, with five- and 10-year bonds giving an average coupon of 2.0% and 2.5% per year, respectively, and 15-year bonds offering a fixed coupon of 1.8%, the ministry said in a statement.
“The bonds should be sold out as they are secure and offer good returns,” Patricia Mongkhonvanit, head of the ministry’s Public Debt Management Office, told a briefing.
The new stimulus will also be financed by other borrowing, including government bonds and some from an earlier loan from the Asian Development Bank, she said.
The entire funding is under a 1 trillion baht borrowing plan announced late last year (2020) in response to the pandemic.
Of that, about US$13 billion (THB 394 billion) has been secured and the remainder will be raised during the current fiscal year, Ms Patricia said, adding US$12.4 billion (THB 373 billion) had been disbursed so far.
The country’s public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) will not exceed 56% at the end of this fiscal year that ends in September, she said. The debt stood at 50.46% of GDP as of November last year (2020).