Manila gets ING offer

Manila gets ING offer

MANILA (AFP): The Central Bank of the Philippines said
yesterday it had received an offer from ING Barings to underwrite
a Euro note issue to bolster reserves depleted by its defense of
the peso.

The central bank said in a statement that ING Barings proposed
backing a one-year bond issue with a minimum value of US$500
million but did not say whether it would take up the offer.

Such an issue would "meet the need to augment the existing
level of (central bank) reserves and enable it to strengthen its
capability to withstand unexpected and unfavorable reversals" in
the peso, it said.