The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P28.6 billion at Monday’s treasury bills auction, exceeding the initial offer of P25 billion as tenders mounted.
In a statement, the Auction Committee said it fully awarded bids for the 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills at relatively lower rates.
The auction was 3.9 times oversubscribed, with total bids reaching P98.3 billion, the statement said.
This also prompted the committee to double the accepted non-competitive bids for the 364-day T-bills to P7.2 billion.
The 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills fetched average rates of 5.451 percent, 5.524 percent, and 5.656 percent, respectively.
All rates were lower than the previous auction rates, the statement added.
RCBC’s chief economist, Michael Ricafort, said yields again dipped after a further easing of the latest inflation to 1.3 percent in May 2025.
“Some investors are locking relatively higher T-bill yields” before they go down further, Ricafort said in a Viber message.
He said yields were also mostly lower after a relatively large total demand of P98.259 billion.
“But again, a larger amount of P28.6 billion was fully awarded as some investors took positions in still relatively higher yields before they go down in the coming months,” Ricafort said.
John Paolo Rivera, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said the strong investor appetite for T-bills “signals continued market confidence in short-term government securities amid easing inflation and stable monetary policy expectations.”
“It suggests investors anticipate that the BSP may begin cutting rates late this year, making fixed-income instruments more attractive now,” Rivera said in a Viber message, referring to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
He said the BTr’s decision to upsize the non-competitive bids for the 364-day tenor shows it is capitalizing on favorable borrowing conditions while managing its cash requirements efficiently.
“This outcome also reflects ample liquidity in the market and a cautious investor preference for short-dated instruments in the current macroeconomic environment,” Rivera said.
