MANILA – The rates of the Philippines Treasury bills (T-bills) declined anew Monday as domestic liquidity further boosted demand for debt securities.
The rate of the 91-day paper slipped to 0.846 percent, the 182-day to 1.094 percent, and the 364-day to 1.446 percent.
These were at 0.917 percent, 1.210 percent, and 1.492 percent during the auction last Feb 1.
The Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) auction committee doubled the award for the non-competitive bids for both the three- and six-month papers thus, the PHP7 billion awards for both tenors during the day instead of the PHP5-billion announced offer.
Bids for the 91-day paper reached PHP21.6 billion while it amounted to PHP29.834 billion for the six-month paper.
Tenders for the one-year paper amounted to PHP43.915 billion, more than four times the PHP10-billion offer, which was fully awarded during the auction.
In a message to journalists Monday, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon attributed the large amount of tenders partly to the PHP20 billion maturing debt papers this week.
She, however, said the auction committee did not open the tap facility despite the large bids during the auction.
With interest rates declining across-the-board during the day, de Leon dubbed the uptick in government securities rates last week, which was driven by faster inflation rate, as “temporary.”
“Price pressures seen as temporary and will be alleviated with measures like price caps and food imports,” she added.
The rate of price increases in the first month of the year exceeded the 2-4 percent target band of the government until 2024 when it rose to 4.2 percent from the previous month’s 3.5 percent.
Last January’s inflation print is the fourth consecutive month of upticks, which monetary officials consider as transitory because of the impact of weather disturbances and oil price hikes on agricultural products, among others. (PNA)
