Outstanding gov’t debt paper at P4.43T in end-January

The total amount of outstanding government-issued IOUs as of end-January declined to P4.43 trillion as the Bureau of the Treasury only partially awarded or rejected bids for most of the debt paper offered that month due to higher rates.

The combined value of outstanding treasury bills and bonds as of January decreased from end-December 2017’s P4.44 trillion, the latest Treasury data showed.

As of end-January, treasury bonds still accounted for the bulk of outstanding debt paper with a face amount of P4.1 trillion, down from P4.13 trillion in December.

Last January, the Treasury rejected tenders for P20 billion in 10-year bonds during the first auction for 2018 and sold only P14.9 billion out of another P20 billion in new three-year bonds as yields increased.

Outstanding treasury bills amounted to P327.2 billion, up from P314.4 billion as of end-2017.

The Treasury accepted all P20 billion in treasury bills on Jan. 15 even as the 91-day paper fetched a higher rate, but capped the volumes for the 182- and 364-day IOUs issued two weeks later.

Among the outstanding bonds, three-year IOUs reached P59.9 billion; five-year debt paper, P315.3 billion; seven-year treasury bonds, P596.7 billion, and 10-year bonds, P396.4 billion.

As for the 10-year agrarian reform bonds, the outstanding amount was P7.2 billion; 20-year IOUs, P319.3 billion; and 25-year debt paper, P235.9 billion.