BTr hikes T-bill award as rates mostly drop on inflation bets

THE GOVERNMENT hiked its award of Treasury bills (T-bills) auctioned off on Monday as rates mostly declined on expectations that Philippine headline inflation eased further in May.

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The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P28.6 billion from the T-bills it offered on Monday, higher than the P25-billion plan, as total bids reached P116.316 billion or almost five times the amount placed on the auction block, and also higher than the P84.255 billion in tenders recorded on May 26.

The oversubscription prompted the auction committee to double its acceptance of non-competitive bids for the 364-day T-bills to P7.2 billion, the BTr said in a statement.

Broken down, the Treasury borrowed the programmed P8 billion via the 91-day T-bills on Monday as tenders for the tenor reached P31.675 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 5.452%, 1.6 basis points (bps) lower than the 5.468% seen in the previous auction. Tenders accepted by the BTr carried yields of 5.434% to 5.463%.

The government likewise made a full P8-billion award of the 182-day securities it auctioned off as bids for the paper amounted to P41.655 billion. The average rate of the six-month T-bill was at 5.565%, 1.4 bps higher than the 5.551% fetched last week, with accepted rates ranging from 5.553% to 5.579%.