T-bill rates rise ahead of BSP policy meeting
The government was able to raise its target amount of short-dated debts during its last sale of Treasury bills (T-bills) for the year despite higher rates sought by investors, who are now waiting for the next move of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Auction results on Monday showed the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) sold P15 billion in T-bills, as planned.
The Treasury said the debt papers were met with strong demand, attracting P46.7 billion in total tenders that exceeded the original size of the offer by 3.1 times.
But that did not prevent the rates from going up week-on-week. Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the market was now anticipating the next decision of the BSP, which would hold its last rate-setting meeting for this year on Dec. 19.
As it is, an Inquirer poll economists projected that the central bank would deliver a third rate later this week amounting to 25 basis points following a mild inflation uptick in November and slower-than-expected economic growth in the third quarter.
But while there is wide expectation of further BSP easing, Ricafort said local investors had still asked for higher yield due to some “window-dressing” activities before the end of the year.
“Treasury bill average auction yields were again mostly slightly higher for the 11th straight week amid some premium on crossing-the-year funds as the accounting year-end draws closer,” he explained.
The BTr said the 91-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 5.818 percent, up from 5.774 percent in the previous auction.
