Investors continued to press for an increase in Philippine benchmark interest rates for short-term loans.

At Monday’s auction, March 28, the yield on the 91-day Treasury bill, which banks use in pricing their loans, rose to 1.587 percent from 1.536 percent a week ago.

The government accepted P5 billion worth of bids for the three-month IOUs, even as investors were willing to buy as much as P17.802 billion of the debt papers.

The yield on the six-month IOU however was unchanged, after the government rejected all bids in the face of attempts by investors to push the rate to 1.856 percent from 1.607 percent last week.

The government was supposed to sell P5 billion of the 182-day T-bills. Demand reached P9.4 billion.

The bureau also rejected all tenders for the one-year debt papers. Had the government accepted the tenders, the interest rate on the IOU would have risen to 2.137 percent from 1.792 percent a week earlier.

Total tenders for the 364-day T-bills reached P8.602 billion, or P3.6 billion more than the government's offer of P5 billion.

The government only raised P5 billion from the auction of the short-term IOUs on Monday, lower than its program of P15 billion.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the government opted to reject bids for the six-months and one-year papers amid continued “market jitters.”

“Market jitters continue with another round of oil price hikes and US Federal Reserve aggressive tone including 50 basis points rate hike to tame inflation,” de Leon told reporters after the auction.

However, she added that the government’s cash position remains comfortable despite recent failed domestic borrowing.

“The recent success in dollar market strongly positions the Bureau of the Treasury to meet disbursements even with rejections in auctions if markets demand an arm and a leg,” de Leon said.

Last week, the government raised $2.25 billion, or roughly P118 billion, through the sale global bonds, including $1 billion from the maiden green bond issuance.