MANILA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government on Tuesday raised 1.5 billion U.S. dollars through a global bond issuance, which was warmly received by China and other offshore markets, said the Bank of China Manila branch.

The Bank of China Manila branch, one of the joint global coordinators and underwriters of the bond issuance, told Xinhua that it was the first time that the Philippine government hired a Chinese bank to sell its dollar-denominated global bond.

The oversubscription of the global bond reached several times of the Philippine government's debt offering of 1.5 billion dollars, the Bank of China Manila branch said.

Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the transaction "further illustrates deepening investor confidence in the Philippines' growth story and the Duterte administration's ability to maintain fiscal discipline while spending big on infrastructure modernization, human capital development and social protection for the poor."

By geographical allocation, Asian investors contributed 37 percent of the total share of the dollar-denominated bond. Investors from Europe and the United States bought 35 percent and 28 percent respectively.

According to the Philippine government, proceeds of the bond issuance will be for the government's general purposes, including budgetary support.

The Philippines issued its first 1.46 billion China yuan (230 million U.S. dollars) of panda bonds or yuan-denominated debts in March 2018. The successful issuance of panda bonds aroused the Chinese investors' interests on the Philippine bonds.