The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has rejected bids for the treasury bills auctioned yesterday as investors sought significantly higher rates.
The auction was also only slightly oversubscribed, with total tenders of P16.3 billion versus the P15 billion program.
Last week, Rosalia de Leon, national treasurer, said given the national government’s good revenue performance, it has room to reject bids in the regular auctions should rates be found unreasonable.
Had it been fully awarded, the 91-day paper would have fetched a rate of 4.82 percent, 100.1 basis points (bps) higher than the previous average of 3.819 percent.
Tenders amounted to P7.6 billion versus the P5 billion offering.
As for the 182-day IOUs, the rate would have pushed up to 5.226 percent had it been awarded, 81.1 bps up versus the previous average of 4.415 percent.
Demand only reached P5.503 billion versus the P5 billion the BTr planned to borrow.
Lastly, for the one-year securities, the rate would have reached 5.862 percent, 208 bps higher than the previous rate of 3.782 percent.
Demand was lackluster at P3.2 billion versus the P5 billion program.
The rates were also above the benchmark rates in the secondary market which are at 3.37 percent, 4.015 percent and 3.881 percent for the three-month, six-month and one-year IOUs, respectively. – Angela Celis
