Philippines: T-bill rates inch up

• Aug 25, 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Rates for short-term government securities inched up yesterday following the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ decision to keep interest rates unchanged, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

During yesterday’s auction, the 91-day Treasury bills (T-bills) fetched an average rate of 1.131 percent, 1.3 basis points up from the 1.118 percent recorded last week.

Despite this, the auction committee decided to award in full the P5 billion offering. Healthy demand met the auction with P12.178 billion in total tenders.

The average for the 182-day debt papers likewise rose by 1.9 basis points to 1.407 percent from the 1.388 percent posted in the previous auction a week ago.

The P5 billion offering was fully awarded, while total bids reached P11.661 billion.

Lastly, the BTr also awarded in full the P10 billion worth of 364-day securities at an average rate of 1.751 percent, 0.6 basis point up from last week’s level of 1.745 percent.

The auction was more than 2.5 times oversubscribed, with total tenders amounting to P26.438 billion.

Overall, yesterday’s auction garnered P50.277 billion in total bids, P20 billion of which was accepted.

According to National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, the uptick in T-bill rates was expected after the Monetary Board decided to maintain interest rates during its latest policy meeting last week.

Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/08/25/2037558/t-bill-rates-inch-up