In Manila, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) successfully met all bids for Treasury bills (T-bills) in Monday’s auction. The auction saw 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day T-bills being sold at average rates of 5.329 percent, 5.672 percent, and 5.754 percent, respectively. These rates show a slight increase from the previous week’s averages of 5.318 percent, 5.662 percent, and 5.780 percent for the same durations.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, noted that the average yields on T-bills have been incrementally rising for the third consecutive week. This trend follows the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) unexpected decision to maintain the key local policy rate during its February 13, 2025 meeting, which had left markets somewhat disappointed. However, Ricafort pointed out that the recent reduction in banks’ reserve requirement ratio helped to mitigate the impact of rising yields.
He also mentioned that the slight increase in T-bill yields was influenced by a growing market demand for long-term local government securities. The auction itself was highly competitive, being oversubscribed by 3.8 times, with total tenders reaching PHP83.7 billion. Consequently, the Committee was able to fully allocate the planned PHP22 billion for the auction.