National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon
MANILA – The rate of the Philippines’ 35-day Treasury bill (T-bill) declined Tuesday, which National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon attributed to the 50 basis points surprise cut in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) key rates last week.
The debt paper’s average rate went down to 1.684 percent from 2.101 percent during the auction last June 16.
De Leon said the paper’s latest interest rate is its lowest so far.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered the T-bill for PHP15 billion and it attracted total bids amounting to PHP62.541 billion. The auction committee made a full award.
“We do not upsize for 35-day because of very short tenor,” de Leon said when asked if the BTr will open the tap facility to accept more bids given the strong interest for the debt paper.
Meanwhile, the BTr reported the rise of the national government’s outstanding debt as of end-May 2020 to PHP8.89 trillion from year-ago’s PHP7.92 trillion.
The bulk of the debt is accounted for those sourced from domestic fund sources at PHP6.03 trillion, higher than year-ago’s PHP5.26 trillion.
Loans from external creditors reached PHP2.86 trillion last May, higher than the PHP2.66 trillion in the same period last year. (PNA)
