Turkish Treasury borrows $494M through auctions

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Treasury borrowed 2.88 billion Turkish liras ($494 million) from domestic markets through two auctions on Tuesday.

Some 2.25 billion Turkish liras ($385.4 million) in 12-month zero coupon treasury bill (semiannually, reopen) was sold in the first auction, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced.

The treasury bills will be settled on Wednesday and mature on Oct., 7, 2020.

The total tender amounted to 3 billion Turkish liras ($514.5 million) with a 74.7% accepted/tendered rate.

The Treasury said the term rate of 350-day treasury bill was accepted at 13.60%, while the annual simple and compound interest rates were 14.14% and 14.18%, respectively.

In the second auction, the Treasury issued five-year fixed coupon bonds (semiannually, reopen, fifth issue) totaling 633 billion Turkish liras ($108.6 million).

The bonds will be settled on Wednesday with a maturity date of June, 5, 2024.

The total tender in the second auction amounted to 1.15 billion Turkish liras ($197.2 million), with a 54.9% accepted/tendered rate.

The term rate of 1,687-day government bonds was accepted at 1.97%, while the annual simple and compound interest rates were 3.93% and 3.97%, respectively.

The Treasury also held two more auctions on Monday to borrow $760 million from the domestic market.

According to the ministry's borrowing strategy, the Treasury projects to hold 12 bond-auctions and a direct sale of lease certificates this October-December to borrow some 38.9 billion Turkish liras ($6.88 billion) from domestic markets.