MANILA – The rate of the Philippine’s 35-day Treasury bill (T-bill) rose Tuesday and demand remained high.
The paper’s average rate increased to 2.065 percent from 2.024 percent during the auction last May 19.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered the paper for PHP15 billion and the auction committee made a full award after tenders reached PHP34.39 billion.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon traced the increase of the rate to investors’ anticipation of where domestic inflation rate would be in the near term.
The rate of price increases continues to decelerate since last January’s 2.9 percent.
Last April, the inflation rate slowed to 2.2 percent, bringing the average to date to 2.6 percent.
Monetary authorities project inflation to average at 2 percent this year, the lower end of the government’s 2 to 4-percent target band until 2022.
Investors may expect the 35-day T-bill to be part of the government’s regular borrowing program.
“We see now (an) appetite for (the) intermediate part of (the) curve,” de Leon added.
The BTr did not open the tap facility for this paper. (PNA)
