INVESTORS in government securities flocked to the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) tap facility on Monday as bids for the 364-day Treasury bill (T-bill) amounted to P37.370 billion, almost five times more than the offered P8 billion.
The BTr on Monday opened anew its Tap facility for the one-year T-bill, offering P8 billion to investors, as the market showed strong domestic liquidity reflected in the tenders received by the auction committee amounting to P37.370 billion.
The strong demand for the government security prompted the auction committee to award another P8 billion in the end.
The rate for the security remained at 6.253 percent, which was closed during the primary auction for the IOU earlier in the day.
During the primary auction, the rate for the 364-day T-bill fell by 38.80 basis points from the 6.64-percent rate in the previous auction.
The BTr was able to raise a total of P22.405 billion from its primary auction on Monday from its offering of P20 billion, as investors lapped up T-bills with longer tenors.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon pointed out that the high liquidity shown in the auction for government securities may come from the decelerating inflation, among others.
The BTr’s tap facility is made available to its 10 government securities eligible dealers market makers, which are mostly universal and commercial banks.
On Monday, the BTr also opened its over-the-counter (OTC) window to auction of all tenors of the T-bills for government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and tax-exempt institutions.
De Leon said that the BTr is considering to open the OTC on a regular basis, which is seen to encourage the participation of the GOCCs in the auctions of the BTr.
“The OTC, that’s really meant for the GOCCs that are tax exempt. Before, we used to consult [them], but they could not really commit. Of course, they would have to see first the rate,” de Leon said. “So we just have it opened because before their request was that they could not participate in the primary [market] given the tax.”