Turkey: Treasury borrows $360M through auction

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Treasury borrowed 1.96 billion Turkish liras ($360 million) from domestic markets, according to an official statement Monday.

The first auction was held for 13 months zero coupon bonds (new issuance), which amounted to 983 million Turkish liras (nearly $180.6 million), the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced.

The government bonds will be settled on Wednesday and mature on Dec. 11, 2019, while the total tender was 7.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion) with a 13.1-percent accepted/tendered rate.

The interest rate of the 392-day bonds was accepted at a 21.4-percent term rate, with annual simple and compound interest rates of 19.87 and 19.73 percent, respectively.

At a second auction on Monday, the Treasury borrowed 978 million Turkish liras ($179.7 million) by issuing fixed coupon bonds (re-open, second issue), which will be settled on Wednesday and mature on Oct. 18, 2023.

The total tender for the bonds was 6.87 billion Turkish liras ($1.26 billion), with a 14.2 percent accepted/tendered rate.

The ministry said the term rate of 1,799-day bonds was accepted at 8.47 percent term rate, while annual simple and compound interest rates were 16.95 and 17.67 percent, respectively.

On Friday, the ministry announced that it cancelled three auctions due to a high demand from international markets and austerity measures announced in the New Economy Program.