PHL govt sells P9B T-bills during Monday's auction

The government sold P9 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) in Monday’s auction, with the six-month and one-year papers fetching higher than previous rates. The rate for the 91-day T-bills however fell to 2.501 percent from 2.88 percent, but the 182-day T-bill and 364-day paper fetched average rates of 2.759 percent and 3.236 percent, respectively. Total tenders for the three-month debt paper reached P8.56 billion, allowing the government to sell P2 billion of the 182-day T-bills. Tenders for the six-month and one-year debt papers totaled P7.5 billion and P7.21 billion, respectively. The Treasury Bureau said it awarded P3 billion worth of 182-day bills and P4 billion worth of 364-day bills. National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the higher rates of the 182-day and 364-day debt papers were within secondary market levels. "It was a good auction. The volume of bids was meaningful," Tan told reporters after auction. Tan added that demand for the shorter-term papers were high because investors wanted to park their funds for shorter periods of time. "There are still a lot of uncertainties," Tan said, noting how the rising inflation could have affected investors' decisions. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported earlier that inflation this year could breach the higher end of its three- to five-percent target, on the back of continued inflationary pressures from rising prices of oil and commodities in the world market. —JMT/VS, GMA News