Gov’t raises P24.79B from T-bonds auction

MANILA  -The national government resorted to a partial award for a fresh issue of seven-year Treasury bonds, raising only P24.793 billion out of the planned P30-billion borrowing as demand eased.

The auction committee led by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said that a coupon rate of 6.375 percent was set for the securities that would expire on July 27, 2030.

“The auction was 1.8 times oversubscribed as total submitted bids amounted to P55.1 billion,” the BTr said in a statement.

Demand was slightly better during the most recent auction for seven-year T-bonds held last week, when lenders made available a total of P57.7888 billion for P30 billion worth of debt sought.

At the secondary market, the Philippine Bloomberg Valuation Service tagged corresponding corporate bonds at 6.278 percent while similar government securities fetched 6.316 percent.

Yields on Philippine government securities have been easing over the past few weeks in tune with a similar trend in United States treasuries, according to Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

Tuesday’s T-bond auction capped the national government’s domestic borrowing program for July, with a total of P180 billion offered, including P60 billion in Treasury bills and P120 billion in T-bonds.

Earlier this month, the BTr also offered P30 billion each of six-, nine-, and 16-year T-bonds.

The latest auction ended two consecutive weeks when the offers — both for bills and bonds were awarded fully.

Awards for July total at P162.005 billion, including P108.379 billion worth of T-bonds and P53.636 billion of T-bills.

For August, the national government also plans to raise a total of P210 billion, with an extra week of auction giving space for more offerings of securities.