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CASH-RICH power firm National Power Corp. (Napocor)
continues to pare down its foreign debts totaling some
$7 billion, and revealed Friday another prepayment that
cuts its indebtedness by another $260.2 million or some
P11 billion.
Industry
sources said Napocor has sought and obtained the
go-ahead from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to push
ahead and complete the transaction.
According to officials, the prepayment involves loans
that the power firm obtained from Japanese creditors and
guaranteed by the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation.
Officials did not reveal which creditors will get back
their money well ahead of term, saying only that the
amount totals ¥27.2 billion.
“The
Napocor prepayment was approved by the Monetary Board at
its meeting [the previous] Thursday,” according to
officials.
An MB
approval means Napocor will source most, if not all, of
its foreign exchange requirements from the Philippine
Dealing System where the US dollar is freely traded on
week days.
Others
requiring foreign exchange but without prior MB notice
are understood to have internal capability to meet their
foreign-exchange requirements.
Napocor
has been paying back its multibillion-dollar debts out
of proceeds from the sale of a number of its
power-generating units.
Just
last year Napocor sold some $500 million worth of assets
and by December that year, it announced that it was
prepared to pay ahead of time around $1 billion worth of
debts. |
