With as little as P5,000 and a few taps on an app, those who are both prudent and sophisticated with money can earn a guaranteed amount and at the same time, help fund the state’s COVID-19 response by buying retail treasury bonds. It’s an experience to rival adding to cart during an online sale, according to a cabinet official.
According to the Bureau of Treasury’s online calculator the RTB or retail treasury bonds will earn P525 over five years for a minimum P5,000 investment. The payouts will be made quarterly and investors will need to wait five years to get the P5,000 back. A P100,000 investment will earn P2,100.
Buying RTBs from the new bonds.ph app is “easier than buying from Lazada and Shoppee,” said Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez. The finance chief bought RTBs digitally during the launch on July 16 together with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Benjamin Diokno.
Proceeds from the RTB sale, dubbed "Progreso Bonds," will help fund the government’s COVID-19 response, the treasury said. Retail bond sales are meant to encourage individuals to invest in government securities rather than keep their money in deposit accounts, or worse, in their home cabinets.
A bond sale at this time is a “bold undertaking” as many prefer to hold on to cash, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said. “The pandemic will not stop us from our lofty pursuit to seize the power of technology to empower every Filipino to contribute... and put the economy back on the track of sustained high growth.”
“A prudent person saves in a bank. A more prudent and more financially sophisticated person will invest in high yield and little default risk,” said de Leon, who at the start of the pandemic in March oversaw the sale of $2.35 billion (P119 billion) in 10-year and 25-year dollar bonds.
President Rodrigo Duterte kept the country under varying quarantines until July 31, warning Metro Manila of a return to the stricter Modified ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine) should officials fail to slow rising infections.
