Kenya raises 229 mln USD from T-bills after weeks of underperformance

Kenya this week raised 229 million U.S. dollars from Treasury bills as the government increased its appetite for the short-term loans amid renewed surge in subscription after five weeks of underperformance.

Treasury, as in the previous weeks, was out in the market to raise 154 million dollars but ended up accepting the 229 million dollars, auction data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) showed Friday.

Most of the money (154 million dollars) was raised from the 182-day paper which registered a 256 percent subscription, the highest in recent weeks. Interest rate on the paper stood at 10.6 percent, a marginal surge of 0.02 percent.

The government had sought 58 million from the security during the auction but ended up getting nearly three times more.

Similarly, the 364-day paper had a subscription of 129 percent as the T-bill attracted bids worth 74 million dollars at an interest rate of 10.9 percent. Treasury accepted 58 million from the papers, the money it had sought.

On the other hand, the 91-day paper underperformed, raising 35 million dollars out of the 39 million dollars it had sought. Treasury accepted 25 million from the bids at 8.6 percent.

Analysts noted that investors went for the 182-day security, making it outperform the others, because of its higher returns.

They further attributed the high borrowing by the government this week to cancellation of a two-year Treasury bond last week, after investors put bids that the CBK considered unrealistically above market rates.

The government had floated the 288 million dollars paper for budgetary support. Endit