PH T-bill rates down after BSP rate hike

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered the debt paper for PHP4 billion and tenders were nearly thrice at PHP11.665 billion. The auction committee made a full award. (File Photo: Bureau of the Treasury/Facebook)

MANILA — The rate of government-issued Treasury bills (T-bills) fell across the board Monday, which National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon quickly attributed to lesser uncertainties following another hike in central bank’s key rates last week.

On August 9, 2018, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy-making Monetary Board (MB) hiked the central bank’s key rates by 50 basis points. This now brings the overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) facility to four percent.

With this, rate of the benchmark 91-day T-bill fell to 3.244 percent from last week’s 3.290 percent. Rate of the same tenor in the secondary market is higher at 3.6379 percent Monday morning.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered the debt paper for PHP4 billion and tenders were nearly thrice at PHP11.665 billion. The auction committee made a full award.

Rate of the 182-day bill averaged at 4.117 percent, down against the previous week’s 4.186 percent and lower than the secondary market’s 4.3750 percent earlier in the day.

The auction committee also made a full award of PHP5 billion after tenders reached PHP20.910 billion.

The one-year T-bill rate averaged at 4.892 percent, a decline from 4.899 percent during the auction last August 6. Rate of this tenor in the secondary market Monday morning is lower at 4.8430 percent.

Tenders reached PHP16.831 billion, higher than the 6 billion offering. This tenor was also awarded in full.

De Leon said the high liquidity situation along with the BSP rate hike last week has a “calming effect” among market players, thus, the decline in the T-bill rates.