By Joann Villanueva/PNA
MANILA — The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Wednesday awarded an additional PHP15 billion worth of the five-year Treasury bond (T-bond) through a tap facility following strong demand during the regular auction.
Investors submitted a total of PHP50.976 billion of bids, higher than the PHP48.857 billion tenders in the auction.
The yield of the debt paper issued through the tap facility stood at 7.003 percent.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said they opened the tap facility due to the strong demand during the auction.
She attributed the high demand for the five-year paper auctioned this week to the fact that it is the last issuance of this tenor for the year.
“Yes (they are) locking rates,” she said in a reply to an SMS from PNA.
De Leon said they awarded the securities offered through the tap facility to “market makers” or those that excel in the primary and secondary government security markets.
After the regular auction on Wednesday, which was postponed from Tuesday due to the suspension of work in Manila in line with the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, investors submitted bids that are more than three times the PHP15 billion offering.
De Leon traced this to investors’ decision to lock in on the rates on the back of expectations that inflation may have reached its peak this year at 6.7 percent last September and October.
