THE Bureau of the Treasury raised P24 billion after auctioning off Treasury Bills (T-bills) on Monday as rates continue to follow a downtrend path.
This was an upsize from its initial P20-billion offer after the Treasury decided to double the non-competitive bids for 91-day and 182-day T-bills to P4 billion.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the rates declined amid “temporary” price pressures.
The auction was oversubscribed by almost five times as total tenders reached P95.3 billion.
“Liquidity remains strong with P20-billion maturity this week. Price pressures seen as temporary and will be alleviated with measures like price caps and food imports,” De Leon said in a message to reporters.
The 91-day T-bills settled at an average rate of 0.846 percent, falling by 7.1 basis points from the previous average rate of 0.917 percent. Tenders for the security amounted to P21.6 billion, more than four times the initial P5-billion offer.
The average rate of the 182-day T-bills dropped by 11.6 basis points to 1.094 percent compared to 1.21 percent previously. Total bids for the tenor reached P29.83 billion, nearly six times the initial P5-billion offer.
Lastly, the 364-day T-bills recorded an average rate of 1.446 percent, contracting by 4.6 basis points from previous auction’s 1.492 percent. The security attracted total tenders of P43.9 billion, more than four times the 10-billion offer.
For this month, the Treasury programmed to borrow P140 billion from the local debt market, the same amount it planned to raise in January.
Finance officials expect the national government’s debt this year to settle at 57 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) with a borrowing target of P3.03 trillion, roughly the same amount the state borrowed in 2020.
The government posted a record-high outstanding debt of P9.795 trillion and a 14-year-high debt-to-GDP ratio of P54.5 percent. This came a year after the country recorded an outstanding debt level of P7.73 trillion as it snatched a historic low debt-to-GDP ratio of 39.6 percent.
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