By Joann Villanueva/PNA
MANILA — The Philippines’ one-year Treasury bill (T-bill) registered undersubscription Monday, which according to a ranking Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) official was due to expectations of the retail treasury bond (RTB) issuance.
BTr offered the one-year paper for PHP8 billion but bids only reached PHP7.958 billion. The auction committee awarded PHP5.208 billion.
It’s rate rose to 6.052 percent from 5.983 percent during the February 12 auction.
Deputy Treasurer Erwin Sta. Ana told reporters after the auction that tenders remain healthy but the market’s demand very clearly favored the 182-day paper, which received PHP13.874 billion tenders, more than twice the PHP6 billion offer. This was fully awarded.
The average rate of this tenor went up to 5.978 percent from last week’s 5.933 percent.
Relatively, the bellwether 91-day T-bill received PHP7.030 billion, higher than the PHP6 billion offer. The auction committee, on the other hand, awarded PHP4.39 billion.
Its rate increased to 5.733 percent from the previous 5.550 percent.
Sta. Ana said demand during Monday’s auction remained healthy but the surge of tenders was more notable for the six-month paper.
“Feedback from the reports are basically a supply concern, with respect to a prospective RTB issue,” he said, citing that “as of now everyone is looking at the RTB issuance.
The BTr official declined to give specifics on the date of the RTB offer except that “the timetable is still within first quarter.”
He said the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) will be tapped for the issuance “but just like in any other RTB, any GSED (government securities eligible dealers) can be a selling agent.”
