T-bill rates decline as inflation woes ease

MANILA  -The average rates on Treasury bills again fell across the board, with the national government raising a total of P15 billion, as planned, through the full award of short-term debt papers as lenders’ appetite grew further.

The average rate on the 91-day T-bills went down by 27.3 basis points (bps) to 5.611 percent from 5.884 percent last week.

Also, the average for the 182-day T-bills eased by 27.2 bps to 6.823 percent from 6.095 percent.
Further, the average for the 364-day T-bills decreased by 4.2 bps to 6.184 percent from 6.226 percent.

“The auction was 4.4 times oversubscribed, attracting P66.7 billion in total tenders,” the BTr said in a statement. “With its decision, the committee raised the full program of P15 billion for the auction.”

In the previous auction last week, total tenders amounted to just P44.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the results were mixed when compared to prevailing rates at the secondary market.

At the Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL), the yield on the three month bill was 19.7 bps higher at 5.808 percent. Also, the yield on the six-month bill was 13.4 bps higher at 5.957 percent.

On the other hand, the average rate for the yearlong bill was 3.9 bps lower at 6.145 percent.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said T-bill auction yields were lower week-on-week, which was likely consistent with the continued downward correction in the comparable short-term Philippine BVAL yields.