Gov’t raises fresh P7.1B from T-bills

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised ₱7.1 billion in its latest auction, awarding in full its 91-day Treasury bill (T-bills) offering while making a partial award of its 182-day debt paper.

The treasury, however, made no award of its 364-day T-bill.

The 91 and 182-day rates settled at an average of 4.089 percent and 4.950 percent, respectively – the first lower than the previous rate of 4.205 percent while the other is higher than the 4.920 percent posted in the last auction.

According to the Treasury, the average rate for the 364-day T-bill would have reached 5.776 percent, higher than the previous rate of 5.150 percent, had it been awarded.

“The auction was almost twice oversubscribed, attracting P29.3 billion in total tenders,” the BTR said in a statement.

Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., previously that policy hikes from the Fed, as well as the succeeding ones from central banks had led to higher interest rates and bond yields in other parts of the world including the Philippines.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) hiked its policy rate by 0.75-percentage-point (ppts) last month, matching the latest move by the United States Federal Reserve to tame inflation.

The Monetary Board (MB), the central bank’s seven-person policy making body, decided to raise the interest rate on the central bank’s overnight reverse repurchase facility by 75 basis points (bps) to 5 percent, effective on Nov. 18.

Almost a week ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) nudged the Philippines to further tighten its monetary policy amid persistent inflationary pressures, making the recommendation after its periodic consultations with key officials.

BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said in an interview with Bloomberg TV last week that he is personally looking at several more increases of 0.25 ppts in the succeeding meetings of the MB.

The MB holds a policy meeting twice in every quarter, once a month except for the first month of each quarter.

Medalla added that he doesn’t see any more increases by the third or fourth quarter 2023, citing that he even sees a possible reduction during the last quarter of next year. Alden M. Monzon