Treasury to borrow P200B locally in February

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of the Treasury will borrow P200 billion locally in February through its weekly T-bill and bond auctions.

The amount to be raised from the domestic debt market next month matched this month’s P200-billion program.

In a memorandum on Wednesday, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told all government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) that the Treasury will offer P15 billion each in T-bills on Jan. 31 as well as Feb. 7, 14 and 21.

Settlement of these short-dated debt paper will be on the Wednesdays after the auctions, all during the month of February.

The volume of P5 billion each per tenor — the benchmark 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day securities — was maintained, similar to the offerings in January.

The Treasury also kept the P35-billion weekly T-bonds volume for the four Tuesdays of February.

It will offer four-year bonds on Feb. 1, seven-year IOUs on Feb. 15, and 10-year securities on Feb. 8 and 22.

London-based think tank Capital Economics expects 10-year local currency government bond yields in the Philippines to rise to 5 percent by end-2022 and 5.25 percent next year from 4.96 percent last Jan. 25 as the US Federal Reserve was expected to hike interest rates by three to four times this year.