1 Apr 2020

Government plans to borrow $25 billion to cover Covid-19 cost

10:28 am on 1 April 2020

The government is doubling the amount it plans to borrow for the current financial year to pay for its various Covid-19 rescue and support packages.

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Photo: 123rf

A total of $25 billion of government bonds is planned for the year ended June, which is $12bn above the amount signalled two weeks ago.

So far $8bn has been issued, which was the amount expected to be borrowed for the whole year in last year's budget.

It also planned to raise another $3bn in short term Treasury bills.

Some analysts have estimated the government may have to borrow as much as $60bn to cushion the impact of the virus.

Government accounts for the eight months ended February, released earlier this week, showed the had net core debt of $59.7bn, which equates to about 19.2 percent of the value of the economy.

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