MANILA – The Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) auction committee rejected for the second consecutive week bids for the Treasury bills (T-bills) across-the-board on Monday after investors asked for high rates.
Had the auction committee awarded the debt papers, the average rate of the 91-day paper would have risen to 1.577 percent, the 182-day to 1.967 percent, and the 364-day to 1.943 percent.
The BTr offered all tenors for PHP5 billion each, and all were oversubscribed.
Total tenders for the three-month paper reached PHP7.610 billion while it amounted to PHP6.459 billion for the six-month paper and PHP7.165 billion for the one-year paper.
“Full rejection for all tenors as markets continue to ask for higher risk premium with deterioration in market sentiment with escalating tension in Ukraine, weakening of peso and expected surge in inflation,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told journalists in a Viber message.
For one, domestic inflation is expected to post faster year-on-year prints as prices of oil and other commodities rise in the international market given the concerns on the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Last month, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy-making Monetary Board (MB) hiked the central bank’s average inflation forecast for this year from 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent, and the 2023 forecast from 3.2 percent to 3.3 percent due to continued rise of fuel prices.
Domestic inflation rate last February was flat at 3 percent but economists and authorities project acceleration in the coming months because of the impact of overseas developments. (PNA)
