MANILA – Rates of the Philippines’ Treasury bills (T-bills) rose Monday as investors await the latest key rate decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Average rate of the benchmark 91-day paper rose to 2.068 percent, the six-month paper to 2.159 percent, and the one-year paper to 2.408 percent.
These were at 2.035 percent, 2.101 percent and 2.350 percent for the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenors, respectively, during the auction last June 15.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered the three and six-month papers for PHP5 billion, and the one-year T-bill for PHP10 billion. All were fully awarded during the auction.
Tenders for the 91-day day T-bill reached PHP15.904 billion while it totaled for PHP11.685 billion and PHP41.283 billion for the 182-day and 364-day debt papers, respectively.
“Again, rates aligned with inflation as investors look for signal(s) from BSP,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told journalists in a Viber message after the auction.
Domestic inflation rate continues to decelerate, and market players expect Philippine monetary authorities to cut key rates anew to support domestic growth from the impact of the pandemic.
Last May, rate of price increases slowed further to 2.1 percent from month-ago’s 2.2 percent, bringing the average in the first five months this year to 2.5 percent.
The government’s inflation target for this year until 2022 ranges between 2-4 percent.
BSP forecasts inflation to average at 2 percent this year while the projection for next year is an average of 2.45 percent.
BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) will have its fourth rate setting meet for the year on June 25.
Since the start of the year, the Board has cut the BSP’s key rates by a total of 125 basis points.
To date, the BSP’s overnight lending rate is at 3.25 percent, the overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) rate is 2.75 percent, and the overnight deposit rate is at 2.25 percent. (PNA)
