Gov’t borrows P15 B locally 

The national government successfully sold all the short-term debt papers it had offered. The Bureau of the Treasury held on Monday, July 31, an auction for Treasury bills (T-bills) and met its target, raising P15 billion. The total bids received amounted to P45.103 billion. The Treasury generated the targeted P5 billion through the sale of the 91-day T-bills, as total bids surged to P20.867 billion. The average interest rate for the three-month papers dropped to 5.224 percent from the previous week's rate of 5.611 percent. In addition, the government awarded the full amount of P5 billion for the 182-day securities, with total bids reaching P13.309 billion. The average interest rate for the six-month T-bills also declined to 5.789 percent from 5.823 percent the previous week. Lastly, the Treasury successfully raised P5 billion through the sale of the 364-day debt papers, meeting the planned target. Total tenders for the one-year tenor reached P10.927 billion. The average yield for the one-year IOUs, however, increased to 6.210 percent from the 6.184 percent achieved in the previous week. Before Monday's auction, the PHP Bloomberg Valuation Reference Rates indicated that the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day T-bills were quoted at 5.700 percent, 5.935 percent, and 6.119 percent, respectively, in the secondary market.