THE Bureau of the Treasury fully awarded P15 billion (T-bills) in Treasury Bills (T-bills) on Monday as rates moved sideways.
The average rates for 182-day and 364-day T-bills were lower compared to the previous auction while the 91-day T-bills fetched a slightly higher rate. The rates were all lower than secondary market levels.
Nonetheless, the auction was still thrice oversubscribed as total bids for the auction reached P50.8 billion.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon attributed the mixed results in the average rates on Monday’s auction to expectations that inflation for July will settle within the target range of monetary authorities. The Philippine Statistics Authority is set to report the July inflation data on August 5, Thursday.
“Rates moved sideways with inflation expected to stay within BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] band at 4 percent for July,” De Leon said.
She added the Treasury also did not open the tap facility for an additional offering.
The 91-day T-bills’ average rate inched up by 0.3 basis points to 1.053 percent from 1.05 percent. The tenor cornered P16.25 billion in total bids, equivalent to more than three times the P5-billion offer.
The 182-day T-bills slipped to an average rate of 1.401 percent, down by 0.6 basis points from 1.407 percent previously. Tenders for the security amounted to P19.48 billion, nearly four-fold the P5-billion offering.
Likewise, the 364-day T-bills’ average rate fell by 0.6 basis points to 1.632 percent from the previous auction’s 1.638 percent. Bids for the debt paper were capped at a total of P15.03 billion, thrice the P5-billion offer.
For August, the Treasury has set to borrow P200 billion from the local debt market, slightly lower than the P235 billion it programmed in July.
This year, the national government programmed to borrow a total of P3.1-trillion, of which around 75 percent is expected to be raised through domestic sources.
The outstanding debt of the national government has already piled up to P11.166 trillion as of end-June this year, swelling by 23.3 percent from P9.054 trillion a year ago.
Finance officials have said the ratio of debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) this year is projected to rise to 59.1 percent from 54.6 percent in 2020. It is also expected to peak next year at 60.8 percent—slightly above the internationally accepted threshold—before gradually tapering off to 60.7 percent and 59.7 percent in 2023 and 2024.
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