BTr awards P15 billion T-bills in full

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) awarded in full the P15 billion worth of 35-day Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered due to strong demand from investors.

During yesterday’s auction, newly issued 35-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 2.714 percent. 

This was lower than the secondary market rate of comparable securities, or in this case, one-month debt papers, which settled at 3.132 percent yesterday.

The P15 billion offering was more than four times oversubscribed, with total tenders amounting to P62.2 billion.

Given the strong demand, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the auction committee decided to open the tap facility for 35-day T-bills with a total volume of P10 billion.

Earlier, the BTr awarded P24 billion worth of T-bills with maturities of 91-day, 182-day and 364-day.

The Treasury upsized the awarded volume for the securities given strong demand as a result of ample liquidity in the financial market following the redemption of P120 billion matured securities last week.

De Leon also said that rates dropped significantly after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced a 50-basis point rate cut last week.

Due to lower rates and strong appetite from investors, the BTr opened the tap facility for 364-day T-bills.

Data from the BTr’s website showed that an additional P10 billion worth of 364-day securities were awarded through the facility, at a rate of 2.295 percent.