REJECTION. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) rejected on Monday (Oct. 3, 2022) all bids for the Treasury bills (T-bills). National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said yields asked by investors are beyond what the auction committee considered as acceptable even with anticipations for further hikes in the key rates of both the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Federal Reserve. (Photo courtesy of BTr)
MANILA – The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Monday fully rejected bids for the Treasury bills (T-bills) as investors continued to demand for high yields.
Had the auction committee fully awarded the debt papers, the rate of the 91-day paper would have risen to 4.660 percent, the 182-day’s to 4.902 percent, and the 364-day’s to 4.937 percent.
The last time the BTr awarded both the three-month and one-year papers was in Aug. 22 wherein the 91-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 2.070 percent and the 364-day, 3.782 percent.
The six-month paper was last awarded albeit partially on Sept. 27 and it fetched an average rate of 3.958 percent.
The BTr offered all tenors for PHP5 billion each and only the three-month paper was oversubscribed.
Total bids for the 91-day paper reached PHP5.78 billion while it amounted to PHP4.78 billion for the six-month paper and PHP3.678 billion for the 364-day T-bill.
“Rates are not within our acceptance threshold even taking into accounts Fed (Federal Reserve) and BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expected aggressive policy rate adjustments,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said in a reply to questions from the Philippine News Agency.
Both central banks have hiked their respective key rates aggressively in a bid to help tame the elevated inflation rate here and abroad.
For one, the BSP’s key policy rates have been hiked by a total of 225 basis points to 4.25 percent for the overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) rate.
The Federal Reserve funds rates have been increased by 300 basis points to around 3.00 to 3.25 percent. (PNA)
