Malacanang declared April 10 as a holiday to celebrate the Feast of Ramadan, while April 9 is a regular holiday because it is the National Day of Valor—a day to commemorate the heroism of those who fought the country’s freedom and independence.
The BTr will auction P15 billion worth of treasury bills—P5 billion each for the three-, six- and 12-month bills, and P30 billion worth of bonds originally issued as a 10-year debt due January 2034 and carry a coupon of 6.25 percent.
Yield on government debt papers last week rose after the government report the budget swung to a P164.7 billion deficit in February after recording an P88 billion surplus in January.
Because of the midweek holidays, settlement of both the treasury bonds and bills have been scheduled on April 11, a Thursday.
Also on Thursday, the central bank is scheduled to hold its meeting when the policymaking Monetary Board decide whether to tweak the overnight rates it had aggressively raised by 4.5 percentage points to 6.5 percent to tame inflation. Policy adjustments have been on hold since the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last raised the overnight rates by 25 basis points in October, awaiting further inflation developments.
On Friday, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that March inflation rose to 3.7 percent, at the upper end of the 2 percent to 4 percent target range of the government. The acceleration in March is the second month in a row that inflation picked up pace after dipping to 2.8 percent in January, and authorities believe it could rise further due to higher food prices, particularly rice, because of El Nino.
