The Philippine government raises P25 billion from the sale of Treasury bills (T-bills), with total bids more than four times the offered amount, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said Monday.
The BTr fully awarded P8.5 billion for both 90-day and 182-day T-bills, while P8 billion was awarded for the 364-day securities.
Data showed that the 90-day and 182-day T-bills fetched average rates of 4.883 percent and 5.081 percent, respectively. Total tenders reached P35.81 billion for the 90-day securities, while the 182-day debt instrument attracted P41.35 billion.
The auction yields for the 364-day tenor settled at 5.195 percent, with total tenders amounting to P40.69 billion.
Total demand in this week’s auction reached P117.84 billion, exceeding the P25 billion offering.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), said the T-bill average auction yields were again mostly and slightly lower for the 12th straight week, after another 0.02 to 0.14 decline in the comparable short-term PHP Bloomberg Valuation (BVAL) week-on-week.
Ricafort said the drop followed relatively peaceful protests on Sept. 21 against corruption allegations, as well as the widely expected 0.25 percentage point rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Sept. 17.
“Fed signals of another two Fed rate cuts for the rest of 2025, another 0.25 Fed rate cut for 2026, and 0.25 for 2027, or a total of 1.00 Fed rate cuts from now until end-2027,” Ricafort said.
He said future Fed cuts could be matched locally by gradual reductions in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ interest rates, signaling “baby steps” toward a policy “sweet spot where interest rates are at the right level” without any large-scale easing.
Thony Rose Lesaca
