T-bill rates continued to fall Monday
MANILA, Philippines – T-bill rates on Monday continued to fall across the board amid a low-interest-rate environment attracting robust demand for short-dated government securities.
The Bureau of the Treasury raised P20 billion from Monday’s auction and opened its tap facility window to sell another P5 billion in one-year debt paper, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said.
The Treasury awarded P5 billion in the benchmark 91-day T-bills at an average rate of 1.454 percent, down from 1.587 percent last week.
It also sold P5 billion in 182-day IOUs at 1.625 percent, down from 1.687 percent during the previous auction.
The 364-day treasury bills fetched 1.77 percent, down from the previous annual rate of 1.782 percent, such that the Treasury awarded all P10 billion it offered.
De Leon said the rates were “stabilizing at these low levels.”
Tenders across the three tenors amounted to P72.4 billion or over 3.6 times the P20-billion total offering.
De Leon said take-up for short-term placements in T-bills did not affect the ongoing offer of five-year retail treasury bonds (RTB), which will be up for grabs until Aug. 7 at a coupon of 2.625 percent.
The government’s 24th RTB sale and the Duterte administration’s seventh issuance was also being made available on a mobile app as well as more online channels.
These RTBs’ 25 selling agents were Asia United Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Banco De Oro Unibank Inc., Bank of Commerce, BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BDO Private Bank, BPI Capital Corp., China Banking Corp., Citibank NA, CTBC Bank (Philippines) Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines, East West Banking Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., ING Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, Maybank Philippines Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine Bank of Communications, Philippine National Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Robinsons Bank Corp., Security Bank Corp., Standard Chartered Bank, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., and Union Bank of the Philippines, de Leon said in a memorandum last week. [ac]
