Investors pressed anew for an increase in Philippine benchmark interest rates for short-term loans.
At Monday's auction of Treasury bills on Feb. 14, the bellwether 91-day T-bill rate, which banks use in pricing their loans, rose to 0.810 percent from 0.710 percent previously.
The Bureau of the Treasury sold the P5 billion worth of three-month debt papers on offer. Investors however were asking for P13.57 billion more of the government security or IOU.
Yield on the 182-day T-bill also climbed to 1.066 percent from the previous 1.022 percent as investors were willing to buy P14.79 billion of the six-month IOUs. The government accepted P5 billion as planned.
Moreover, interest rates on the 365-day T-bill slight rose 1.475 percent from the previous 1.408 percent with total tenders for the one-year paper amounting to P12.874 billion, of which the government accepted P5 million.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the government decided to make a full award despite higher interest rates.
De Leon said yields moved up owing to heightened concerns on Ukraine as the threat of a Russian invasion grows along with speculation that the US Federal Reserve will hike rates by as much as 50 basis points next month.