Manila: Increased demand for the government's Treasury bills (T-bills) resulted in a decline in the securities' rates on Tuesday, backed by higher demand. Data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the average rate of the benchmark 91-day paper slipped to 5.195 percent from 5.234 percent during the auction last Aug. 18. Rates of the 182-day bill declined to 5.398 percent from 5.435 percent previously, and the 364-day T-bill to 5.522 percent from 5.564 percent.

According to Philippines News Agency, BTr offered the T-bills for PHP25 billion and made a full award. Total tenders reached PHP113.02 billion. The three-month debt paper was offered for PHP8 billion, and tenders reached PHP31.89 billion. Total tenders for the six-month paper amounted to PHP39.27 billion, more than three times the PHP8 billion offer. Bids for the one-year paper reached PHP41.86 billion, nearly five times the PHP9 billion offer.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort, in a commentary, attributed the drop in the T-bill rates partly to expectations for another cut in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' key rates on Thursday. He said the projected rate cut is supported by the manageable inflation environment, with the July level further decelerating to 0.9 percent, the lowest since the 0.6 percent in October 2019, from the month-ago's 1.4 percent. Average inflation in the first seven months this year stood at 1.7 percent, lower than the government's 2 to 3 percent target band for this year.