Outstanding treasury bills, bonds hit P 6.82T in February

Outstanding locally issued debt paper climbed to a new high of P6.82 trillion in February as the government continued to borrow even as rising yields pose higher borrowing risks in the near term due to high inflation and the ongoing market sell-off.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed that the total face amount of outstanding IOUs sold by the national government to local investors as of end-February increased from P6.78 trillion in January as both treasury bills and bonds further rose.

Outstanding treasury bills remained above the P1-trillion level while bonds increased to P5.81 trillion from P5.78 trillion a month ago.

On Tuesday, the Treasury fully awarded P30 billion in reissued seven-year bonds at an average annual rate of 3.732 percent.

While the original coupon was a higher 4.75 percent, the bond fetched a lower rate of 2.719 percent when reissued in January.

Bid rates hit a high of 3.799 percent and a low of 3.65 percent.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the higher rates were “expected as secondary levels climbed in tandem with inflation, higher oil prices and US treasuries with optimism on [US President Biden’s] stimulus package.”

The auction was oversubscribed as investors tendered P50.2 billion for these securities with a remaining life of six years and a month.

To date, a total of P174.9 billion had been raised from this bond series. INQ