MANILA – The rates of Treasury bills (T-bills) declined across-the-board Tuesday due to expectations of continued benign domestic inflation rate.
The rate of the 91-day paper slipped to 1.058 percent, the 182-day to 1.499 percent, and the 364-day to 1.759 percent.
These were at 1.079 percent, 1.543 percent, and 1.791 percent for the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day T-bills during the auction last Oct. 26.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered the shortest tenor for PHP5 billion and received tenders amounting to PHP24.987 billion. The auction committee made a full award.
The middle tenor securities were initially offered for PHP5 billion but the auction committee upsized the award to PHP7 billion after doubling the award of the non-competitive bid to PHP4 billion due to strong demand.
Tenders for the one-year paper reached PHP40.62 billion, more than four times the PHP10-billion offer. The auction committee made a full award.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon attributed the drop in the T-bill rates to a benign inflation outlook, citing that the rate of price increases remains within the government’s 2-4 percent target band for this year until 2022.
“Sustained ample liquidity and bias for shorties (short tenor securities also contributed to the drop in rates),” she added.
The average inflation in the first nine months this year stood at 2.5 percent. (PNA)
