Benchmark 91-day T-bill rate eases to 1.167%

The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday sold all P20 billion in short-dated bills it offered even as bid rates rose for the two longer tenors.

The Treasury awarded P5 billion in the benchmark 91-day bills at an average rate of 1.167 percent, down from 1.18 percent last week.

It also sold P5 billion in 182-day bills even as the rate inched up to 1.518 percent from 1.421 percent previously.

The P10 billion in 364-day debt paper fetched an annual rate of 1.807 percent, also up from 1.788 percent from a week ago.

In general, “rates remain low even with the adjustment” on six-month and one-year treasury bill yields, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said.

“Good demand remains with the volume received in the auction,” De Leon added.

Across the three tenors, investors tendered a total of P56.7 billion, making the auction more than 2.8 times oversubscribed.

With the domestic financial system still awash with cash, De Leon said there was no immediate plan yet for another round of offshore commercial borrowings.

The Philippines already issued US dollar- and euro-denominated global bonds so far this year, while the government had also been planning to sell yuan-denominated panda bonds as well as yen-denominated samurai bonds in 2020. —Ben O. de Vera INQ