|
THE RATE
for one-year Treasury bills, the new but temporary
lending benchmark, rose 92.2 basis points to 6.915
percent Monday, the Bureau of Treasury said.
Expectations of soaring inflation in the coming months
drove the rate from the previous rate of 5.993 percent.
“It’s
really inflation expectations that’s driving the rate
up,” Finance Undersecretary and acting Bureau of
Treasury chief Roberto Tan said at the end of Monday’s
auction.
The
higher rates posted by auction participants forced Tan
and the auction committee to sell only P1.971 billion of
the P6 billion of the 364-day bills on the block.
After
the auction Tan told reporters the average rate would
have soared to 7.11 percent had they sold all P6 billion
Monday. A lending benchmark this high was simply
unacceptable, he said.
The
government gained around P10 billion from the sale of
assets during the first three months of the year.
Intensified collection also helped expand by 6.8 percent
year-on-year government revenues to P253.5 billion from
P237.3 billion.
The
situation has allowed the government to narrow the
budgetary shortfall by P400 million to P51.6 billion.
Tan also
said the trading of one-year government securities at
the secondary market closely approximates the rate at
which they sold on Monday.
“We’re
willing to move with rates at the secondary market,” he
added. |
