BTR raises 20B via T-bills amid high asking yields
THE national government managed to borrow P20 billion through the sale of short-term Treasury bills (T-bills) despite high investor asking yields.
The Bureau of Treasury ( BTR) made a full award of the bids for Tbills on Monday’s auction.
The auction committee raised P6.5 billion from the tender of 91day T-bills, P6.5 billion from 182-day T-bills and also accepted P7 billion from the 364-day debt papers it sold.
The average yields of 91-day Tbills increased to 5.743 percent from 5.717 percent in the previous auction with bids ranging from 5.724 percent to 5.755 percent for the 91day T-bills.
The 182- day T- bills investors’ average asking yield also went up to 5.991 percent compared to last week’s auction at 5.978 percent. The government security rates settled between 5.980 percent and 5.998 percent.
Investors’ average rate for the 364-day T-bills fetched 6.081 percent with a yield range from a low of 6.050 percent to a high of 6.095 percent. T-bills’ yields averaged 6.072 percent in the Treasury’s previous auction on July 15.
The Treasury said the auction was 2.4 times oversubscribed, attracting P47.4 billion in total tenders.
The amount tendered per tenor was P14.860 billion for the 91-day, P15.010 billion for the 182-day and P17.502 billion for the 364-day Tbills.
“With its decision, the Committee raised the full program of P20.0 billion for the auction,” the Treasury said in a statement.
According to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort, the T-bills’ average auction yields increase weekon-week as investors lock-in longerterm tenors as they expect monetary authorities to cut interest rates next month.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. has said that the Monetary Board may start cutting policy rates in August to avoid a loss of output.
“That’s basically where we stand. We’re not going to raise,” Remolona said (See: https://businessmir-ror.com.ph/2024/07/09/further-delays-in-easing-may-cause-out-put-losses/).
Ricafort also noted the marginal week- on-week increase in T- bills yields is similar to the faint weekly rise in the comparable PHP BVAL yields.
However, T-bill average auction yields are still mostly slightly lower than the comparable short-term PHP BVAL yields, added the RCBC executive.
The Treasury has raised P82.600 billion from the sale of T-bills as of the fourth week of July. The government aims to borrow P100 billion from the issuance of T-bills and P115 billion from auctioning off Treasury bonds ( T-bonds) for the month of July.
The government has borrowed P1.422 trillion from January to May this year, with domestic borrowings reaching P1.170 trillion and foreign borrowings at P251.712 billion.