By Jenniffer B. Austria

First Metro Investment Corp., the investment banking unit of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., is packaging P70 billion worth of borrowings by both the government and private sectors amid a slowing economy.

First Metro executive vice president Jose Pacifico Marcelo told reporters in a briefing that it received a mandate to arrange P70 billion worth of borrowings, including P24 billion for project financing, especially in the power and infrastructure sectors.

First Metro will arrange P20 billion worth of peso borrowings for the government and P26 billion for prime and listed companies.

Marcelo declined to name the companies tapping the local credit market this year.

He said the companies, despite risk aversion, were borrowing money to partially finance their capital expenditures for the year, pre-pay debts due to low interest rates or fund new projects.

?Companies will continue to raise money in a liquid market. There are opportunities for these companies raise debts to refinance or repay debts because of low interest rates or to fund new project,? Marcelo said.

Only Globe Telecom Inc. so far announced that it would raise P10 billion from a bond note issue.

Globe Telecom, a joint venture between Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecom, plans to issue up to P5 billion in debt paper in 2009, comprising of fixed rate bonds maturing in 2012 and 2014. The company said it might issue another P5 billion worth of bonds in 2010.

The government, meanwhile, raised $1.5 billion last year from the issuance of 10-year bonds in the international market.

First Metro expects the national government to raise more capital to finance debt maturities after the $1.5 billion-bond issue.

The private sector last year raised more than P130 billion from borrowings, with local banks accounting for P55 billion and private companies taking P75 billion.

Meanwhile, First Metro president Francisco Sebastian said it expected the domestic economy to grow this year despite the deepening financial crisis. He said he saw growth opportunities in the infrastructure sector, including water, tollways, utilities and power, where the government will take an active role in stimulating it.

Sebastian said the decline in inflation rate due to easing oil prices in the world market as well as drop in the prices of basic commodities and construction materials would help boost the domestic economy.