MANILA -- Average rates of all the three tenors of the Philippine government-issued treasury bills (T-bills) fell Monday following last week’s reduction of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) key policy rates.
Rate of the 91-day T-bill dropped to 3.115 percent from 3.187 percent during the auction last February 3.
Deputy Treasurer Erwin Sta. Ana attributed the decline to the 25-basis-point slash in the central bank’s key rates last week, the first for the year after the total of 75-basis-point reduction last year.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered this tenor for PHP6 billion and investors submitted bids totaling to PHP18.405 billion. The auction committee made a full award.
Average rate of the 182-day paper declined to 3.461 percent from last week’s 3.523 percent.
Tenders for this tenor reached PHP16.82 billion, more than twice the PHP6-billion offer. This tenor was also fully awarded.
Rate of the 364-day paper slipped to 3.908 percent from 3.964 percent in the previous auction.
It was offered for PHP8 billion and received PHP21.08 billion worth of tenders. The auction committee also made a full award for this tenor.
Sta. Ana said the decline in the T-bills’ average rate was expected given hopes for additional cuts in the BSP rates within the year as hinted by BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno.
“It is reported that the inflation outlook is quite manageable hence, the reduction in the rates,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sta. Ana said they have secured all the requirements for a US dollar bond issuance but have not determined the offer period and the possible volume as they continue to monitor market developments.
The planned issuance came right after the BTr gained PHP310.8 billion from the offering of three-year retail treasury bond (RTB) during the shortened offer period from January 28 to February 4.
The offer period was supposed to be until February 6, 2020, but Treasury officials reduced it ahead of the original deadline after receiving strong demand for the debt paper.
Sta. Ana said settlement for the debt paper has been set for Tuesday.
The government issued EUR1.2 billion worth of Euro-denominated bond, at EUR600 million each for the three- and six-year paper, last January.
This issuance is part of the government’s diversification program for its debt issuances. (PNA)
