INVESTORS of government securities oversubscribed the 10-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) opened on Tuesday when bids made were almost double the P20 billion on offer.
The BTr was able to award another P20 billion through its tap facility opened on Tuesday, after the primary auction for the maiden issuance of the 10-year T-bonds was oversubscribed.
The auction committee was again met with oversubscription for the government paper amounting to P37.135 billion from the P20 billion on offer. The coupon rate for the security remained at 6.875 percent during the auction through the tap facility.
The tap facility is only made available to the Treasury’s 10 market makers, namely, BDO Unibank Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Banking Corp., Citibank Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, First Metro Investment Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and Security Bank Corp.
During the primary auction for the IOUs, bids reached P52.989 billion, prompting the auction committee to fully award the security with the P20 billion on offer.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon earlier said the BTr saw the strong appetite of investors for longer-dated securities, which resulted with the opening of its tap facility.
She expressed hope that the government’s future auctions will also be met with strong interest, as displayed during the first two auctions for government securities starting this year.
For 2019, the government plans to borrow from both domestic and foreign financial institutions a total of P1.19 trillion, higher than the programmed P986-billion borrowings for 2018. The increase was a result of the government’s adjustment of the deficit ceiling of 3.2 percent, the BTr said.