BTr upsizes T-bill award to P21 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The government upsized yesterday the award of short-dated securities to P21 billion as rates fell across the board on strong demand and ample liquidity in the system.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised the volume of Treasury bills (T-bills) from the initial offer of P15 billion.

Yesterday’s auction was more than six times oversubscribed with total bids of P92.5 billion, prompting the auction committee to double the accepted non-competitive bids across all tenors.

The average rates for the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills settled at 1.176 percent, 1.422 percent and 1.649 percent, respectively, all lower than the previous auction and secondary market trading levels.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the BTr would no longer raise additional funds from the tap facility.

“Rates declined with steady inflation and good progress on vaccination. Also, US non-farm payroll was lower than expected, tempering action from the Fed,” she said.

Inflation was steady at 4.5 percent in May, with downtrend expected in the second half as non-monetary policies to increase food supply were rolled out.

Liquidity in the market was also further boosted, with about P34 billion in maturities this week and redemption of P13 billion in retail Treasury bonds on June 13.

The BTr is raising P215 billion from the bond market this month, up from P170 billion programmed in April and May and P160 billion in March.

The Treasury raised the volume of bonds with longer maturities in the tenor mix after seeing robust demand in the previous auctions.

Auctioned every Monday are P15 billion worth of short-term debt papers for a total of P75 billion for the whole month.

These weekly Treasury bill offers are composed of P5 billion each for those with tenors of 91 days, 182 days, and 364 days.

Offered every Tuesday, meanwhile are P140 billion worth of Treasury bonds at P35 billion each for tenors of 20 years, seven years, 10 years and five years.