Treasury to sell P150-B bills, bonds in Q4

The Bureau of the Treasury will borrow P150 billion locally through the auction of bills and bonds from October to December, a lower volume than that of the third quarter.

Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana explained to reporters yesterday that the volume of government securities to be auctioned in the fourth quarter was lower than the current quarter’s P195-billion program because December really was a shorter month with respect to fundraising amid the Christmas holidays.

In a Sept. 22 memorandum to government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs), National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the Treasury would sell P15 billion in bills—P6-billion 91-day, P5-billion 182-day and P4-billion 364-day—on Oct. 9 and 23, Nov. 13 and 27 and on Dec. 11.

The Treasury will also offer P15-billion each in four-year bonds on Oct. 3 and Nov. 21; seven-year IOUs on Oct. 17 and Dec. 5, as well as 10-year debt paper on Nov. 7.

As domestic interest rates remain relatively low, the government will finance its programmed wider budget deficit equivalent to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year until 2022 through a borrowing mix of 80-percent local and 20-percent foreign.

The Treasury yesterday awarded all the P15 billion in bills it offered as the auction was oversubscribed by more than four times and rates fell across the board.

Tenders totaled P68.3 billion, which the Treasury attributed in a statement to “healthy market demand.”

“Average rates for the 91-, 182- and 364-day T-bills came in below secondary market levels, settling at 2.032 percent, 2.522 percent and 2.861 percent, respectively,” the Treasury said.

The average rates were 2.088 percent, 2.564 percent and 2.92 percent, respectively, at the previous treasury bills auction two weeks ago.

Sta. Ana attributed the “very good” turnout mainly to expectations of manageable domestic inflation.

Last week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board kept the policy rate or overnight reverse repurchase facility at 3 percent while it maintained the overnight lending and deposit facilities.

The Monetary Board, the BSP’s highest policymaking body, also left the reserve requirement ratios unchanged as it deemed that “the inflation environment remains manageable” such that the rate of increase in prices of basic goods was seen settling within the government’s 2-4 percent target range in the next three years.