The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) fully awarded bids for the treasury bills auctioned yesterday amid healthy demand for government-issued IOUs.
The auction was oversubscribed with total bids reaching P50.2 billion, more than 2.5 times the P20 billion offering
The rates across all tenors were lower than secondary market benchmark rates, the BTr said.
However, these all inched up from the average rates recorded in the previous auction for the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day treasury bills.
“Just one basis point (bp) up, so very insignificant,” Rosalia de Leon, national treasurer, told reporters via Viber after the auction.
De Leon said rates could move “sideways or tad higher,” following the Monetary Board’s decision during its meeting last Thursday to keep its policy settings steady.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ overnight reverse repurchase facility was maintained at 2.25 percent. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were likewise kept at 1.75 percent and 2.75 percent.
The Monetary Board however decided to increase big and thrift banks’ limit on real estate loans to 25 percent from 20 percent.
The 91-day paper fetched a rate of 1.131 percent, 1.3 bps up from the previous average of 1.118 percent.
Tenders totaled to P12.178 billion, more than twice the P5 billion program which was fully awarded by the committee.
For the 182-day securities, the rate is 1.407 percent, 1.9 bps higher than the previously recorded yield of 1.388 percent.
