91-day T-bill rate climbs to 1.941%

MANILA, Philippines – The government sold P9 billion worth of Treasury bills yesterday as the bids received by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTR) exceeded the programmed debt sale for all three tenors.

The 91-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 1.941 percent from the previous rate of 0.690 percent.

Investors tendered a total of P6.9 billion for this paper, more than three times the programmed debt sale for this tenor of P2 billion.

Similarly, the 182-day debt paper fetched an average rate of 2.292 percent, from 0.682 percent. Total bids for this paper reached P6.598 billion, more than double the P3 billion offered by the Treasury.

On the other hand, the yield on the 364-day debt paper reached 1.75 percent, just slightly above the current rate of 1.133 percent.

For this debt paper, investors tendered a total of P9.37 billion, more than double the programmed sale of P4 billion.

National Treasurer Roberto Tan said investors are expecting that long-term rates will stabilize soon.

In the last T-bill auction in Oct. 3, the Treasury rejected all bids as banks submitted unreasonably high offers.

Yesterday’s debt sale is part of the P99 billion local borrowing program of the government for the fourth quarter of the year.

Of the P99 billion, the government plans to issue P54 billion worth of T-bills and P45 billion worth of T-bonds through the issuance of 7-,10-and 25-year T-bonds.

The P99 billion programmed debt sale is lower than the borrowing program of P117 billion set in the second and third quarters of the year and the P114 billion programmed borrowing in the first quarter of the year.

The government borrows from the domestic market through the issuance of Treasury bills and bonds.

Tan said the government remains open to all options in filling up its remaining foreign commercial funding need of $500 million for the year. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)