T-bills auction: Interest rates up again; Government records marginal oversubscription

Interest rates continued their upward trend as the government sustained its heavy borrowing on the money market.

Indeed, the government’s appetite for borrowing continues to push yields on the money market up.

According to auction results, the rate on the 91-day T-bill went up to 29.58% from 29.56% a week ago.

That of the 182-day bill also went up to 31.96% as against 31.76% the previous week.

The one-year bill also increased by 11 basis points to 33.45%.

Meanwhile, the government recorded about 5% oversubscription of the treasury bills auction.

It accepted almost all the bids for the treasury bills tendered to the tune of ¢4.126 billion.

The 91-day was the most subscribed by ¢2.53 billion, representing 61.41%. About 99 percent of the bids tendered were accepted.

It was followed by the 182-day T-bill in which ¢1.110 billion were tendered. The bids were all accepted.

For the 364-day bill, ¢481.75 million of the bids were tendered and accepted.

The treasury market is presently the only source of financing for the government for now as the bond and external debt markets have been shut down.

Government borrowed ¢15.32bn in November 2023

In November 2023, the government borrowed ¢15.32 billion in T-bills, across the 91 to 364-day bills to cover matured bills worth ¢10.60 billion.

This was a 17.0% increase over the month of October 2023.