MANILA – Demand for the 35-day Treasury bill (T-bill) auctioned by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) was high Tuesday, resulting not only in the full award but also the opening of the tap facility to meet investors’ needs.
Total bids for the paper, which was offered after more than a decade, reached PHP62.2 billion, more than four times the PHP15-billion offer.
During the auction done through tap facility, tenders reached PHP19.49 billion, nearly twice the PHP10-billion offer, which was fully awarded.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon traced the demand to “strong liquidity since PHP120 billion redemption (is) still to be deployed”, referring to the funds released after some government securities matured.
She said investors got some assurance after Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said that “BSP has a lot of arsenal for the war against Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019).”
“And, of course, this is just (a) 35-day tenor so might as well earn some interest while banks (are) still risk averse,” she added.
Meanwhile, de Leon said both the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) reported revenues for April 2020 that are “lower than last year.”
She, however, declined to give any figure.
De Leon said government expenditures “can be covered from other collections and borrowings” like “dividends, other contributions (and) even BTr income.”
Revenues of the BIR in April 2019 rose 1.2 percent year-on-year to PHP235.5 billion while that of BOC totaled to PHP51.604 billion, up 14 percent a year earlier. (PNA)
