6-mo T-bill rate rises to 4.019%

Given sustained market preference for the shortest tenor amid uncertainties, the Bureau of the Treasury fully awarded the P5 billion in 91-day bills offered Monday.

The average rate for the three-month treasury bills declined to 3.485 percent from 3.597 percent previously, which Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana partly attributed to the improved outlook of “positive” that the Philippines earned from debt watcher S&P Global Ratings last week, indicating a possible credit-rating upgrade in the near term.

“But as you can see with respect to the other tenors, that’s where the demand weighed a bit. So it’s really because of the usual uncertainties because the markets are waiting for the [April] inflation report and the action of the Monetary Board, whether they will move or not in their May 10 policy meeting,” Sta. Ana added.

The government will release the inflation data for April on Friday, with the majority of economists projecting the rate of increase in prices of basic goods last month breaching the upper end of the government’s full-year target range of 2-4 percent.

Bids for the 91-day IOUs reached P15.15 billion or three times more than the offer.

Meanwhile, the yield of the 182-day debt paper was capped at 4.019 percent, higher than the 3.889 percent in the previous auction, allowing the Treasury to sell only P3.63 billion of the P4-billion offering.

Tenders for the six-month treasury bills amounted P6.36 billion.

The 363-day bills were undersubscribed, with P2.98 billion tendered for the P6 billion offered by the Treasury.

As bid rates also increased, the Treasury rejected all tenders for the one-year government securities.

In all, the Treasury raised P8.632 billion out of the P15-billion total offering.