The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday fully awarded P20 billion in Treasury Bills (T-bills) as rates went sideways.
Despite this, rates across the board were still lower than secondary market benchmark rates.
The auction ended up being oversubscribed by more than 3.7-times as total tenders reached P75.9 billion.
Sought for comment, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon told reporters the “increase in the 91-day T-bills [was] due to expectations of higher inflation print in November following spate of typhoons.”
The 91-day T-bills fetched an average rate of 1.006 percent, 2 basis-points (bps) up from 0.986 percent in the previous auction. Tenders for the tenor reached P19.321 billion, nearly four-times the P5-billion offer.
Meanwhile, the 182-day T-bills posted an average rate of 1.386 percent, 0.1-bps higher than the previous 1.385 percent. Total bids for the security amounted to P20.410 billion, four-times the P5-billion offer.
Lastly, the 364-day T-bills settled at an average rate of 1.693 percent, 0.2-bps lower compared to 1.695 percent in the previous auction. The tenor attracted P36.175 billion in total bids, more than three-times the P10-billion offer.
For this month, the Treasury has programmed to borrow P120 billion from the local debt market.
As of end-October, gross borrowings have already amounted to P3.22 trillion, breaching the P3 trillion borrowing program set by the national government this year.
The gross borrowing level recorded from January to October this year is also equivalent to more than three times as much as the P967.556 billion posted in the same period last year.
Gross domestic borrowings have risen nearly four-fold to P2.65 trillion during the January to October period this year compared to last year’s P673.805 billion.
On the other hand, gross foreign borrowings for the same period almost doubled to P574.435 billion from last year’s P293.751 billion. Given the revenue hit, the government ramped up its borrowing program from P1.4 trillion to P3 trillion this year to cover the expected doubling of the budget deficit as well as to fund its spending requirements for its Covid-19 response.
For next year, the government is also set to borrow another P3 trillion.