Total demand for the term deposit facility of the central bank amounted to P327.962 billion on Wednesday, going beyond the P260-billion offering. This also surpassed the P312.547 billion in bids recorded a week ago.
Meanwhile, bids for the 14-day term deposits amounted to P181.792 billion, going beyond the P140 billion auctioned off by the BSP as well as the P161.602 billion in tenders seen on May 11. Both the TDF and 28-day bills are used by the central bank to gather excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market rates.
Inflation surged to an annual 4.9% in April, the highest in more than three years as soaring food and energy prices continued to hurt consumers. Some market players are pricing in a rate hike at the BSP’s meeting on Thursday as faster-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter is seen to put upward pressure on inpoll of 17 analysts conducted last week showed they are divided on the BSP’s next move, with nine betting rates will remain unchanged, while eight are expecting a 25-bp hike.Economic growth in the first quarter accelerated by a higher-than-expected 8.