The Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) treasury bills auction ended with mixed results as the government capped rates for the 182-day securities.
The auction of the short-term IOUs was 1.8 times oversubscribed, attracting tenders of P27.2 billion.
With the BTr’s decision, it was able to raise P14 billion of the P15 billion offering while rejecting the rest.
“Full award for 91-day and 364-day offering. Partial award for 182-day. Saw rates climbed up from aftermath of Monetary Board 25 basis points (bps) rate lift to cool down inflation,” Rosalia de Leon, national treasurer, told reporters yesterday.
“Markets provided cushion as they see policy rates continue to be on a hiking cycle to let steam out of inflationary pressures. Both Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Fed are expected to unleash another 25 bps if not 50 bps for BSP in August and a follow up 75 bps for Fed,” she added.
Meanwhile, for the second half of the year, de Leon said she sees good demand for the government’s borrowings, even with long tenors, as seen in the 10-year offer last week.
The 91- and 364-day T-bills fetched averages of 1.855 percent and 2.63 percent, respectively, while the 182-day security was capped at 2.4 percent.
The government fully awarded P5 billion each for the three-month and one-year papers, while P3.95 billion was awarded for the 182-day securities under a partial award. – Angela Celis
