Treasury raises P 15B via T-bills sale

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon / INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Bureau of the Treasury on Tuesday raised P15 billion from the auction of short-dated T-bills while rates went sideways.

The Treasury sold P5 billion each in the benchmark 91-, 182- and 364-day debt paper, fully awarding the offering per tenor.

The average rate for the three-month IOUs remained at 1.077 percent.

The yield for six-month treasury bills declined to 1.405 percent from 1.408 percent last week.

The annual rate for one-year securities, meanwhile, inched up to 1.616 percent from 1.612 percent previously.

In a statement, the Treasury said these rates were below those in the secondary market.

Across the three tenors, investors tendered a total of P55.19 billion, making the auction more than thrice oversubscribed.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the Treasury did not offer additional treasury bills via the tap facility window.

The Treasury plans to sell P250 billion in T-bills and bonds in September as the government continued to rely more on the domestic debt market to finance the prolonged fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but rising bond rates may make it difficult to raise funds.

It will offer P35 billion in reissued five-year bonds Wednesday.

Last week, the Treasury rejected all tenders for 11-year T-bonds as bid rates rose amid news that the US Federal Reserve may begin tapering or wind down asset purchases before this year ends.

In a report on Tuesday, debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service said it expected the US Fed “to announce tapering plans later this year and start rate hikes in mid-2023.” INQ