T-bills rates further slide

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Treasury bill rates further slid across the board on Monday as government securities remained appealing to investors despite a COVID-19-induced recession.

The Bureau of the Treasury sold all P20 billion in short-dated T-bills it offered as demand across the three tenors totaled P 60.2 billion, making the auction over three times oversubscribed.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said there was “continued strong buying interest on the front end of the curve at lower rates amid record issuance of RTBs,” referring to the five-year retail treasury bonds whose offer period ended last week.

De Leon had said the Treasury raised a record P516.3 billion from its latest RTB issuance, which will be injected into the budget.

During Monday’s auction, the Treasury awarded P5 billion in the benchmark 91-day T-bills at an average rate of 1.113 percent, down from 1.221 percent last week.

It also sold P5 billion in 182-day IOUs at 1.386 percent, lower than 1.454 percent previously.

The P10 billion in 364-day treasury bills fetched an annual rate of 1.746 percent, below the 1.749 percent during the previous auction.

De Leon said the Treasury will sell another P5 billion of the one-year debt paper through its tap facility window.

JPV