MANILA, Philippines — The government sold in full the P25 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) it auctioned off yesterday as rates were tempered by a slower inflation in March.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised the full planned amount from total tenders of P54.7 billion, making the offer more than twice oversubscribed.
The average yield for the benchmark 91-day T-bills settled at 1.325 percent, up slightly from 1.295 percent in the previous week’s auction, while that for the 182-day debt papers settled at 1.695 percent, up slightly from 1.646 percent a week ago.
Yield for the 364-day debt paper, meanwhile, settled at 1.903 percent , down slightly from last week’s 1.912 percent.
“The auction had good results with healthy tender and rates within secondary levels tempered by lower inflation print in March,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told reporters.
Headline inflation eased to 4.5 percent in March from the two-year high of 4.7 percent in February as increases in the prices of most food items slowed down.
In a briefing yesterday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said inflation may remain in the upper end of the government’s target range of between two to four percent this year.
The headline rate may remain elevated in the first semester because of base effects before easing in the second semester.
By next year, headline inflation is expected to settle at a range of 3.7 to 3.8 percent.
BTr has raised its borrowing program for April as it seeks to raise P170 billion from the local bond market, up from the programmed P160 billion in March.