The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Monday fully awarded all three tenors of its Treasury bills (T-bills) on the back of ample liquidity in the market. A total of P15 billion in debt securities were awarded, while tenders reached P34.51 billion.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the auction committee was pleased with the healthy subscription for the IOUs, which was aligned with internal expectations.
“We are pleased with the results of the auction. We have a very healthy subscription given again ample liquidity. We are seeing the preference on the short end of the curve, I think that is also expected because of the anticipation of the second rate hike of the next FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] meeting,” de Leon told financial reporters.
Rate for the benchmark 91-day T-bill was pegged at 2.205 percent, or 9.4 basis points lower than the previous auction’s rate of 2.299 percent. This tenor was offered for P6 billion, and bids almost tripled to P17.513 billion.
“The good data indicators out of the US, unemployment rate and fund payments rate, and then, of course, the inflation remains steady at 3.4 percent. So banks continue to hedge against possible increase to mitigate impact of losses in their books. I think they will continue to see very strong participation by the end of the yield curve,” de Leon said.
The 182-day set of IOUs received total tenders of P7.501 billion, higher than the P5-billion offering. Rate of the T-bill averaged at 2.602 percent, or 3.6 basis points lower than the 2.638 percent in the last auction.
De Leon said the downward trend in government’s T-bill rates was expected since the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s Term Deposit Facility (TDF) has been receiving undersubscriptions.
“Based on the consultations we had with the market and with what we are seeing earlier, I think that is already expected. It is just how much the rates would fall, how much basis points it will really fall. And we are also seeing the TDF undersubscription, maybe there is also migration in the T-bills from the TDF, we see much liquidity,” she said.
The 364-day T-bills were also fully awarded at P4 billion, with tenders more than doubling P9.495 billion. An annual average rate of 2.966 percent was set for the IOU, which was lower by 2.3 basis points than the previous auction’s rate of 2.989 percent. Rea Cu