THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) lowered the volume of its term deposit facility (TDF) offering next week to P10 billion — the lowest in history — due to upcoming holidays.

The P10 billion in term deposits to be offered on April 17 will only be under the seven-day tenor, a BSP advisory showed.

“Offered tenors were adjusted in view of the regular public holidays on May 1 and June 12 which fall on a Wednesday,” the central bank said in its advisory.

Last Wednesday, total bids for term deposits reached P50.321 billion, down from the P63.033 billion in tenders received in the previous week but still filling the P30 billion which the BSP placed on the auction block.

Appetite for both the one-week and two-week tenors softened compared to the April 3 exercise, but continued to clock in much higher than the amount the central bank wanted to sell.

This comes days ahead of the April 15 annual tax filing deadline and the long weekend break in observance of Holy Week among Catholics. Financial markets will be closed on April 18-19, forcing banks to service more withdrawal transactions during the period.

The seven-day papers received P29.696 billion in total tenders, filling the P20-billion auction volume although lower than the P40.46 billion in offers received a week ago.

The same trend was observed for the 14-day term. Bids totalled P20.625 billion on Wednesday, slightly lower than the P22.573 billion put forward last week but still double the P10 billion which the BSP offered to sell. — RJNI

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