Manila: The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised PHP30.8 billion from the Treasury bills (T-bills) auction on Monday, which was significantly higher than the initial PHP22-billion offering. "The auction was 4.1 times oversubscribed with total bids reaching PHP90.6 billion, prompting the Committee to double the accepted non-competitive bids for the 91- and 182-day securities to PHP5.6 billion and PHP6.4 billion for the 364-day security," the BTr announced.

According to Philippines News Agency, total tenders for the 91-day T-bills reached PHP35.62 billion. The Auction Committee accepted PHP9.8 billion, surpassing the initial offer of PHP7 billion, with the yield at 5.178 percent, down from the previous week's 5.283 percent. The BTr also raised PHP9.8 billion from the 181-day T-bills, exceeding the PHP7 billion initial offer, with total tenders amounting to PHP30.05 billion and the yield settling at 5.548 percent, which was also a decrease from last week's 5.61 percent.

For the 364-day T-bills, the BTr accepted PHP11.20 billion from the PHP24.92 billion total tenders, higher than the PHP8 billion initial offering. The yield settled at 5.773 percent, matching last week's figure.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort noted that the latest Treasury bill average auction yields slightly corrected lower for the second consecutive week following a decrease in inflation to 2.1 percent, which is near the lower end of the central bank's 2 to 4 percent inflation target. "T-bill average auction yields again mostly slightly lower more than two weeks after the announcement of the latest cut in banks' reserve requirement ratio that could infuse about PHP330 billion into the banking system effective March 28, 2025, and the exit of the country from the FATF gray list that could help improve sentiment on the local economy and financial markets," he explained.