Government raises P8.9B in Treasury bill auction

After several weeks of rejecting bids, the government finally sold P8.9 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) in an auction Monday, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr). Yields for the 91-day T-bills increased to 1.655 percent from the previous rate of 0.7 percent. Of the original offer size of P1 billion, the auction committee accepted as much as P1.4 billion worth of bids for the 91-day T-bills. Investors tendered a total of P7.15 billion for this tenor. Rates for the 182-day T-bills fell to 2.414 percent from the previous 2.905 percent. The government sold a total of P3.5 billion worth of the paper as investors tendered P11.910 billion. Similarly, rates for the 364-day T-bill declined to 3.058 percent from 3.250 percent. The total tender for this paper reflected strong investor interest for government debt papers. National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the volume has gone up substantially compared with previous auctions when volume was low and investors sought higher rates. "They still have that concern on inflation but I think the market is normalizing," Tan said in an interview after the auction. Investors, he pointed out, are starting to participate more actively in auctions for government debt papers. Tan is confident that there is a strong interest in the retail Treasury bonds, which will be offered Tuesday. The BTr intends to sell P20 billion worth of 5- to 10-year retail Treasury bonds. Another P10 million in retail Treasury bonds will be sold after the Tuesday's auction until March 1. The issuance of retail Treasury bonds is part of the government's savings mobilization program designed to make government securities available to retail investors and create savings consciousness among Filipinos. The government said retail Treasury bonds give Filipinos the opportunity to invest in government securities even with a small amount of cash. — JE, GMA News