MANILA – The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Thursday awarded PHP192.707 billion worth of five-year retail treasury bond (RTB) during the rate setting auction, more than six times the PHP30-billion offer.
The debt paper fetched a coupon rate of 2.625 percent, lower than the 6.25 percent the same tenor fetched when it was offered in February 2019.
Bids totaled to PHP278.57 billion.
Amid the lower coupon rate of the latest RTB offer, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said she expects strong demand for the debt paper because “there is already (a) good pick-up with 2.625 coupon and results in real positive yield.”
“Online ordering platform and mobile app will allow us to reach far and wide small investors in this environment of safe distancing and quarantine,” she said in a Viber message to journalists after the auction.
RTBs are intended for small investors since minimum placement is PHP5,000 and additional investments will be in increments of PHP5,000.
De Leon earlier said proceeds of this fund-raising activity will be used for budgetary support.
The BTr will launch the latest RTB sale Thursday afternoon through its Facebook page.
Offer period will last until August 7, 2020.
Before this offer, the last RTB issuance of the government was last January when it sold PHP134 billion worth of three-year paper during the rate setting auction alone. (PNA)
