Average rates for treasury bills were mixed at the auction held by the Bureau of the Treasury on Monday, as the prospects of further easing by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas were weighed against the weakness of the Philippine peso versus the U.S. dollar.
Economists view a weaker-than-expected third-quarter growth as another factor that could prompt the central bank to continue easing its policy. The BSP has already cut interest rates twice this year and lowered the reserve requirement ratio for banks.
However, the recent depreciation of the peso—falling to the P58 level against the U.S. dollar—may temper the pace of monetary easing. The next BSP policy meeting is set in early December.
At Monday’s auction, the yield on the 91-day T-bill remained unchanged at 5.605 percent. The average rate on the 182-day paper settled at 5.752 percent, slightly higher than last week’s 5.735 percent, while the 364-day debt paper rose to 5.790 percent from 5.786 percent.
Total tenders were nearly triple the P20 billion offer, with the full amount awarded at P59.4 billion. However, the total was lower than the P69.9 billion tendered at the previous auction.
