BTR opens tap facility for 2nd day to raise funds

THE government successfully raised P30 billion on Tuesday’s auction marked with overwhelming response from investors for the Bureau of the Treasury’s one-year reissued Treasury bonds (T-bonds) offering.

The bonds fetched an average yield of 3.675 percent as the auction was oversubscribed with tenders reaching P66.685 billion, more than twice the P30-billion offering.

“Full award today; twice bid cover ratio [and] rate within secondary level,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters through Viber on Tuesday.

De Leon added that liquidity remains to be strong due to signals from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) of another cut in the reserve requirement ratio as well as in policy rate.

The reissued bonds auctioned on Tuesday had a remaining life of 11 months and eight days. The one-year T-bonds with a coupon rate of 3.5 percent will mature on

March 20, 2021.

De Leon said they decided to open the tap facility window due to the strong demand for one-year T-bonds for an additional P10-billion offering.

It was the second day that the facility was opened as government scrambles to fund a massive social amelioration program on the fifth week of a Covid-19-induced lockdown that’s hurting what little momentum the Philippine economy had at the start of the year.

On Monday, the Treasury raised

P5.855 billion out of its additional P10 billion offering of 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills (T-bills) sold through its tap facility window.

The Treasury accepted all bids for the 182-day T-bills, which amounted to only P855 million out of the P5-billion offering.

It also fully awarded bids for its P5billion offering for 364-day T-bills. Tenders also reached P6.190 billion.

The offerings through tap facility window were open to all 11 government securities-market makers.