The Philippine central bank raised P100 billion from its auction of short-term debt on Friday.
It fully awarded the 28-day debt as bids reached P105.4 billion, lower than P152.1 billion in bids at last week’s auction.
The bills fetched an average rate of 1.7857%, up from 1.7704%. Banks asked for yields ranging from 1.75% to 1.9730%, higher than 1.75% to 1.78% last week.
The central bank uses its short-term bills and term deposit facility to mop up excess liquidity in the financial system and guide short-term interest rates.
The rates slightly went up due to lower demand, though still higher than the total offering of P100 billion, said Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
He also cited the latest data on the National Government’s outstanding debt, which rose to a record.
The government’s outstanding debt hit P10.991 trillion at end-April after it tapped the international debt market twice that month, data from the Treasury bureau showed.
Preliminary data showed the country’s debt pile grew by 2% from the end-March level and by 27.8% from a year earlier. — Isabel B. Celis