THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) received mixed results in its latest Treasury bills (T-bills) auction on Monday awarding P7 billion from the P15 billion on offer, on the back of high bids for the government security.
Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana said that bids for the T-bills came in at a high level, which is why the auction committee decided to reject the 91-day tenor while partially awarding the 182-day and 364-day tenor bucket.
“Generally, the bids came in higher than expected, hence, the decision to fully reject the 91 day and partially award for the two other tenors,” Sta. Ana said.
The 182 day was partially awarded P3.652 billion from the P5 billion on offer with tenders reaching P6.752 billion. The average annual rate for the government security was capped at 5.894 percent, which was 21 basis points higher than the 5.684 percent set in the previous auction for the security.
Tenders for the 364-day tenor bucket amounted to P5.949 billion, with the auction committee partially awarding P3.349 billion from the P6 billion on offer.
The average annual rate was capped at 6.256 percent, which expanded by 37.3 basis points from the previous rate of 5.883 percent.
If the BTr awarded the P4 billion on offer for the 91-day tenor, the average annual rate would have settled at 5.375 percent, which will post an increase of 66.3 basis points compared to the previous rate of 4.404 percent.
Sta. Ana said inflation jitters remained a major factor for the high bids in Monday’s auction.
“Based on feedback from the surveys that we did and the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] did to our GSEDs [Government Securities Eligible Dealers], they are still factoring in inflation,” he explained. “There’s also some consideration on the rate hike trajectory of the Fed [Federal Reserve System], [it’s] expected to hike again once this year and three times next year, to some extent that is still being factored in; so, basically, the inflation effect.”
Meanwhile, the BTr is already conducting its nondeal roadshow for its issuance of global bonds, with Asia being its first leg and the United States within this week. Hong Kong is the first stop for the Asia leg of the nondeal road show, while the BTr will be visiting multiple cities in the US including Los Angeles, Boston and New York.
“Our team is moving to the US within the week to have those nondeal road shows to US investors,” Sta. Ana said.
During the February nondeal road show (a series of meetings with regular institutional investors’ meetings that are not associated with an upcoming share offering), government officials met with several investors in China.