MANILA – Rates of the Philippines’ Treasury bills (T-bills) mostly moved sideways on Monday ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rate-setting meet later this week.
The average rate of the 91-day T-bill moved sideways to 1.15 billion and the one-year paper to 1.621 percent while that of the 182-day’s rose to 1.413 percent.
These were at 1.143 percent, 1.401 percent, and 1.616 percent for the three-month, six-month, and one-year papers during the auction last November 8.
Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered all tenors for PHP5 billion each and these were all fully awarded and over-subscribed.
Total tenders for the three-month paper amounted to PHP11.34 billion, the 182-day’s, PHP13.07 billion; and the 364-day’s, PHP13.58 billion.
“Market expects MB (Monetary Board) to hold rates steady,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told journalists in a Viber message.
She was referring to the Nov. 18, 2021 rate setting meet of the BSP’s policy-making MB, which slashed the central bank’s key rates by a total of 200 basis points in 2020 to encourage more lending activities because of low rates, which, in turn, would help spur economic activities amidst the pandemic.
The Board is expected to keep the central bank’s key policy rates steady in line with BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno’s pronouncement of continued accommodative monetary policy because domestic growth remains fragile despite the two consecutive quarters of domestic growth prints since the second quarter of this year. (PNA)
