National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon
MANILA – The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Tuesday rejected all bids for the 11-year Treasury bond (T-bond) after investors requested high yields.
Had the auction committee made a full award, the rate of the debt instrument would have risen to 4.533 percent, higher than the 4.187 percent it fetched during its previous issuance or on July 1, 2021.
The BTr offered the debt paper for PHP35 billion and bids amounted to PHP46.122 billion.
In a Viber message to journalists on Tuesday, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said rates of the debt paper during the auction were “unreasonably way above secondary levels.”
“Markets (are) pricing in possible start of taper following Fed minutes,” she said.
De Leon was referring to the possible reduction in Federal Reserve’s bond purchases.
This, after minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) meeting last July 27 to 28 indicated some Fed officials’ willingness to slash asset purchases, noting this move will not be a precursor to rate hikes.
“Looking ahead, most participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year,” the Fed minutes showed. (PNA)
