BTr rejects bids for P15-B T-bills

Although the bulk of the PHP15.97 billion bids were for the one-year debt paper, the BTr still rejected these tenders. (File Photo: Bureau of the Treasury/Facebook)

MANILA — The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) has rejected all tenders for Treasury bills (T-bills) across three tenors on Monday’s auction.

Deputy Treasurer Erwin Sta. Ana said the auction committee opted to be more prudent while waiting for the outcomes of meetings of the Monetary Board (MB) as well as of the United States Federal Reserve this week, two events which are widely expected to usher-in another hike in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) key rates.

The 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills were offered for a total of PHP15 billion.

All bids were rejected as yields on this day’s auction were higher than last week.

Average rate for the 91-day T-bill settled at 4.381 percent on Monday from 3.549 percent last week. Yield for 182-day debt paper rose to 5.142 percent from 4.597 percent. For 364-day paper, rate averaged at 5.643 percent from 5.400 percent.

“[I]t could be a major factor for the participants to stay in the sidelines for a bit because you know, from the 91- and 182-day T-bills, both were undersubscribed it could be a manifestation of that of those two events happening this week,” Sta.Ana said pertaining to the policy meetings of the BSP and the US Fed this week.

Although the bulk of the PHP15.97 billion bids were for the one-year debt paper, the BTr still rejected these tenders.

“We just observed that you know, rates are inching higher and higher by the week. So I think, it’s also an indication of the uncertainty at the moment,” the BTr official said.

“So as I’ve said, we’ve taken a more prudent way of managing it, so we just have to wait for what is going to happen this week,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sta.Ana mentioned that the BTr is currently preparing for the issuance of Marawi bonds in a form of retail bond.

The BTr is also looking forward that this could be offered before the year ends, he added.