T-bill rates rise across the board

The government raised P6.6 billion out of the P15-billion goal from the partial award of Treasury bills, as the cost of borrowing continued to rise for short-term debt paper.

The auction held on Monday followed full rejection of tenders in the previous week’s offering.

On Monday, the rate for the benchmark 91-day T-bill increased by 41.1 basis points (bps) to 4.22 percent from 3.819 percent in the previous award.

Also, the yield on the 182-day T-bills rose by 23.5 bps to average 4.65 percent from 4.415 percent in the previous award.

Further, the interest rate on the 364-day T-bills went up by 109.3 bps to average 4.875 percent from 3.782 percent.

These new rates are all higher than prevailing secondary markets rates—by 66.5 bps than the 3.555 percent for 91 days; by 28.1 bps than the 4.65 percent for 182 days; and by 95.1 bps than the 4.875 percent for 364 days.

For Monday’s auction, all three tenors were oversubscribed with investors ready to lend a total of P20.86 billion.

Lenders made available P8.3 billion for the three-month T-bill, P7.466 billion for the six-month and P5.095 for the year-long securities.

—Ronnel W. Domingo INQ