BTr sells P7.5B worth of bonds

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) sold P7.5 billion worth of 10-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) in an auction yesterday.

The average rate for the paper declined to 5.843 percent from a comparative debt paper of 7.113 percent.

The highest bid stood at 5.975 percent while the lowest offer stood at 5.625 percent.

During yesterday’s auction, the government received total tenders amounting to P17.44 billion.

Finance Undersecretary and Acting National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the decline in the rates was within expectations as investors sought for facilities to park their funds.

Tan said the National Government’s bond issuance also helped attract investors to Philippine debt papers.

The government offered $500 million in sovereign bonds by reopening its existing 2032 bonds, with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank handling the bond sale.

The government took advantage of Moody’s move last week. Moody’s raised its outlook on the country’s key ratings to positive from stable, citing progress in government efforts to stabilize public sector finances.

The affected ratings include the B1 long-term government foreign- and local-currency ratings, the B1 foreign-currency bank deposit ceiling and Ba3 foreign currency country ceiling.

Moody’s B1 rating is four notches below investment grade. It is one notch below Standard & Poor’s B-rating and two notches below Fitch Ratings BB grade.

Officials of the rating firm said that an actual upgrade in ratings will require more fiscal consolidation.