BTr seeks to raise P140B via auction of T-bills, T-bonds in January

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) plans to raise P140 billion from the domestic debt market in January next year through its weekly auction to finance the budget and the government’s protracted fight against COVID-19.

In a Dec. 21 memorandum to all government securities eligible dealers, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the Treasury would auction off P20 billion in T-bills each on Jan. 4, 11, 18 and 25, 2021.

The T-bill offerings on all Mondays of January will be composed of the same volumes and tenors as in recent months: P5 billion each in 91- and 182-day plus P10 billion in 364-day bill.

The Treasury will also offer P30 billion each in five- and seven-year T-bonds on Jan. 5 and 19, respectively.

De Leon said the domestic borrowing program for January was “based on auction performance during this quarter and market expectations on monetary authorities’ policy actions going into next year.”

She did not comment on market expectations on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) monetary stance—whether it would further cut the policy rate or keep the already record-low 2 percent unchanged in early 2021.

Amid stable inflation and the economy’s slow recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, the BSP slashed key rates by a total of 200 basis points this year.

Next year, the national government will borrow a record P2.58 trillion locally or 85 percent of the total programmed borrowings, on top of P442.36 billion in foreign financing.

The P3.03 trillion in gross borrowings next year will slightly exceed this year’s P3 trillion and elevate outstanding debt to a new high of P11.98 trillion by end-2021, equivalent to 58.1 percent of gross domestic product. INQ