NATIONAL Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the recent 50-basis-point (bps) policy rate hike by monetary authorities last week prompted rates across all tenors of the Treasury Bills (T-bills) auctioned last Monday to rise.
The Bureau of the Treasury raised P12 billion out of its P15-billion offering as it fully awarded 182-day T-bills and partially awarded the 91-day and 364-day securities.
The 182-day T-bills fetched an average rate of 3.336 percent, higher than the benchmark secondary market rate of 3.06 percent.
Meanwhile, the 91-day T-bills capped at an average rate of 2.07 percent, slightly up from the benchmark secondary market rate pegged at 2.053 percent. The 364-day T-bills’ average rate stood at 3.782 percent, exceeding the comparable secondary market rate of 3.765 percent.
The auction was more than twice oversubscribed, with total bids reaching P30.8 billion.
Meanwhile, the Treasury announced it cancelled auctions for Treasury bonds and replacing it with the sale of at least P30 billion in 5.5-year Retail Treasury Bonds (RTBs).
De Leon expressed optimism that “stars are aligned” for the RTB auction today, August 23, despite the recent policy rate hike by the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Last Thursday, the BSP chose the more aggressive path to monetary policy tightening, as it unleashed a fresh 50-basis-point hike in its main benchmark rates.
In March last year, the Treasury raised a total of P457.8 billion from its sale of 5-year RTBs.
Generally considered low-risk investment instruments, RTBs allow investors to earn a fixed interest based on prevailing market rates that are paid quarterly during the term of the bond.
This year, the government is set to borrow a total of P2.21 trillion, of which 75 percent will be sourced locally while the remaining 25 percent will come from foreign sources.