THE national government failed to raise its intended amount of P15 billion as the auction of Treasury bills (T-bills) on Monday yielded mixed results after investors sought higher yield for shorter term debt papers.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) auction committee decided to fully award the bids for the 364-day T-bills but only partially awarded the sale of 91-day and 182-day securities.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the auction committee made the decision to “ensure rates are within secondary levels.”
With the auction committee’s decision, the Treasury successfully borrowed a total of P12.837 billion out of its target amount of P15 billion.
This is now the fourth consecutive week that the national government was unable to fully raise its intended amount from the sale of T-bills.
The Treasury awarded P3.781 billion out of the P6.091 billion total bids for the 91-day T-bill. The debt paper fetched an average rate of 4.664 percent with a range of a low of 4.57 percent to a high of 4.75 percent.
For the 182-day debt paper, the Treasury raised P4.056 billion, which saw rates averaging 5.437 percent. The total bids for the debt paper reached P7.816 billion.
Meanwhile, the 364-day T-bill fully raised P5 billion. The debt paper was oversubscribed by 1.54 times as total offers reached P7.722 billion.
The average rate for the 364-day T-bill settled at 5.717 percent with the investors bidding for yields as low as 5.69 percent to a high 5.775 percent.
“The auction was 1.4 times oversubscribed, attracting P21.6 billion in total tenders. With its decision, the committee raised P12.8 billion of the P15.0 billion total offering,” the Treasury said.