The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has increased its domestic borrowing program in April, as it eyes to raise P170 billion from its issuance of treasury bills and treasury bonds.
According to a memorandum posted by the BTr yesterday, the government is programmed to borrow a total of P100 billion in treasury bills and P70 billion in treasury bonds.
In March, the BTr had a borrowing program of P160 billion.
The BTr will offer P25 billion in treasury bills per auction in April, higher than the P20 billion set in March.
The 91-day, 182-day and 364-day treasury bills will be auctioned four times next month, or once a week, with volumes of P5 billion, P8 billion and P12 billion, respectively.
The BTr will also auction five-year and seven-year treasury bonds in April, with a volume of P35 billion for every sale.
The programmed amount for treasury bonds is higher than the P30 billion per auction set in March.
Rosalia de Leon, national treasurer, told reporters in a Viber group yesterday the BTr is taking advantage of “good liquidity conditions.”
Meanwhile, the BTr raised P24 billion from its treasury bills auction Monday, P4 billion higher than program, as rates were lower across all tenors.
The auction was almost four times oversubscribed with total bids of P79.3 billion, prompting the committee to raise the accepted non-competitive bids for the 91-day and 182-day securities.
With its decision, the BTr raised a total of P24 billion compared to the P20 billion initial offer.
“(We) see rates moderating as investors again flock to safe haven assets,” de Leon said.
“As BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) clarified, higher inflation is transitory, coming from supply side constraints which non-monetary measures will address. Sufficient liquidity remains,” she added.
The 91-day paper fetched a rate of 1.269 percent, 6.7 basis points (bps) lower from the previous average of 1.336 percent.
Tenders totaled to P22.357 billion, more than four times oversubscribed, with the auction committee awarding P5 billion as programmed.
For the 182-day securities, the rate is 1.609 percent, 10.9 bps down compared to the previously recorded yield of 1.718 percent.
Demand reached P21.507 billion versus the P5 billion offering, which was fully awarded by the government.
Lastly, the yield of the 364-day IOU is 1.926 percent, 7.1 bps down from the previous average of 1.997 percent.
Tenders amounted to P35.466 billion, with the government awarding P10 billion as programmed.
The BTr also opened the tap facility window for the one-year paper for another P5 billion.
