The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) upsized its award of Treasury bills to P27.6 billion from the initial program of P22 billion during its auction on Monday as rates continued to decline amid expectations of manageable inflation rates.

BTr auctioned off 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day debt papers which attracted total bids amounting to P93.9 billion or 4.3 times oversubscription.

The Treasury awarded P9.8 billion for the three-month papers, up from the P7 billion initially programmed. The papers fetched an average rate of 5.165 percent, down from 5.588 percent recorded in last week's auction on 13 January.

BTr awarded another P9.8 billion for the six-month papers, higher again than its initial offer of P7 billion. These debt papers posted an average rate of 5.503 percent, lower than the 5.638 percent seen last week.

Full one-year award

Last week, BTr awarded the entire P8 billion for the one-year papers which fetched an average rate of 5.840 percent, down from 5.891 percent recorded in the previous auction.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the lower T-bill rates reflected investors' anticipation of easing policy rate by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) due to manageable inflation rates.

Ricafort said the government's new anti-inflationary measures for rice will help reduce overall inflation, leading to a looser monetary policy rate by the BSP.