The central bank’s term deposit facility (TDF) received P342.737 billion bids on Wednesday, Feb. 21, against an auction size of P310 billion.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila Jr. said the oversubscription is due mostly to demand in the shorter-dated tenor or the 7-day TDF.
On Wednesday, the BSP offered the same volume of P310 billion, of which P180 billion were allocated to the 7-day tenor and P130 billion to the 14-day tenor.
“Total tenders reached P342.737 billion, which was slightly above the BSP’s expected volume range,” said Dakila.
The tenders resulted in a bid-to-cover ratios of 1.307 for the 7-day tenor and 0.827 for the 14-day TDF which was undersubscribed.
“The undersubscription in the 14-day TDF indicated participants’ preference for the shorter tenor in anticipation of loan releases and the settlement of the Bureau of the Treasury’s Retail Treasury Bond issuance by end-February,” said Dakila. The government is currently offering RTB-30 to small investors until Feb. 23.
Meanwhile, the BSP fully awarded its offering in the 7-day TDF while accepting P107.450 billion for 14-day tenor.
The weighted average interest rates for the 7-day tenor fell by 1.1706 basis points to 6.5756 percent while the 14-day yield also declined by 0.7078 bps to 6.6041 percent.
Dakila said the range of accepted yields was relatively unchanged at 6.5000 percent to 6.5835 percent in the 7-day TDF, and 6.5800 percent to 6.6250 percent in the 14-day tenor.
The BSP’s TDF is an interest rate corridor facility to bring the market rates closer to the BSP key rate.
The facility, a primary liquidity management tool, absorbs excess money in the financial system to control inflationary pressures.