THE national government raised P15 billion anew after the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) made a full-award of Treasury bills (T-bills) as rates continue to drop from previous auctions and remained well within secondary market benchmark level.
The Treasury made full awards across the three tenors of T-bills (91-day, 182-day and 364-day) during its Monday auction with each raising P5 billion.
All of the tendered T-bills were oversubscribed with the overall auction a total offer of P48.7 billion, 3.2 times more than the programmed amount.
The 91-day T-bill fetched P13.68 billion in offers, while the 182-day and 364-day T-bills had bids amounting to P16.53 billion and P18.516 billion, respectively.
The average rates of the T-bills were within the secondary market levels and were even lower than last week’s tender.
The 91-day T-bill had an average rate of 5.783 percent (bids ranged from 5.688 percent to 5.799 percent), compared to its secondary market rate of 5.79 percent.
The 182-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 5.879 percent, slightly higher than the 5.863 percent secondary market rate for the said debt paper. Investors’ asking rate for the 182-day T-bill ranged from a low of 5.748 percent to a high of 5.9 percent.
The 364-day T-bill had an average rate of 5.948 percent, slightly higher than its secondary benchmark rate of 5.896 percent. The government security fetched rates ranging from 5.813 percent to 5.975 percent.
Nonetheless, the rates for the T-bills on Monday’s auction were lower than the average rates sought by investors in last week’s tender: 5.777 percent for 91-day, 5.898 percent for 182-day and 5.945 percent for 364-day.
Last week, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the BTr foresees interest rates for both T-bills and Treasury bonds on a downward trend. De Leon pinned the decline to investors’ improved outlook on the Philippine economy and after monetary authorities put a brake on policy rate hikes as inflation slowed. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/05/23/improved-outlook-to-lower-debt-paper-rates/)
