91-day T-bill rate eases to 1.121%

The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday sold P22 billion in bills even as the rate for the one-year debt inched up.

The Treasury awarded P7 billion in the benchmark 91-day securities at an average rate of 1.121 percent, down from 1.156 percent last week.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the Treasury doubled the noncompetitive bids for the three-month bills such that it sold more than the P5-billion offering.

It also awarded P5 billion in 182-day bills at 1.601 percent, down from 1.615 percent previously.

The annual rate for the P10 billion in 364-day securities nonetheless rose to 1.858 percent from 1.85 percent last week.

“There is still good liquidity as shown by the high bid-to-cover. But given expectations for a pause on policy rates, there was a slight movement in the one-year,” De Leon said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Monetary Board will meet on Thursday to discuss the monetary policy stance even as the BSP had indicated to pause from easing after slashing the policy rate by a cumulative 175 basis points to a record-low of 2.25 percent amid the COVID-19-induced recession.

Across the three tenors, investors tendered P71.9 billion, making the P20-billion auction more than 3.6 times oversubscribed. —Ben O. de Vera