THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) received mixed results in its latest Treasury-bill (T-bill) auction on Monday awarding P13.5 billion, from the P15 billion on offer and which capped the bid rates within internal estimates.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the auction committee decided to partially award the 91-day T-bill while fully awarding the 182-day and 364-day tenors, since rates for the government security were leaning toward the higher levels.
“Because they’re [investors] anticipating, right? They’re already saying that the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] should be hiking by another 50 basis points and this is supply-side effects,” de Leon said. “Analysts would also want to see the BSP to anchor inflationary expectations.”
The reissued 91-day T-bill was partially awarded P2.470 billion, from the P4 billion on offer, with bids reaching P5.780 billion. The average annual rate was capped at 3.549 percent, which posted an increase of 32.4 basis points compared to the 3.225-percent set during the last auction.
Bids for the reissued 182-day tenor reached P8.075 billion with the auction committee awarding the full P5 billion on offer. The average annual rate of 4.353 percent was set for the security increasing by 25.2 basis points, from the 4.101-percent set in the previous auction.
The 364-day T-bill was awarded the P6 billion on offer with bids amounting to P8.051 billion. The average annual rate for the security settled at 5.137 percent increasing by 23.8 basis points, from the 4.899-percent rate in the previous auction.
In August the BSP announced a 50-basis-point hike to their overnight reverse repurchase interest rate.
The hike also came from the heels of two 25-basis-point hikes made in the May and June monetary-policy meetings of the BSP, making it the third consecutive meeting for the year with a rate hike action from the country’s central monetary authority.