The Treasury has awarded this Tuesday 2,052.8 million euros in short-term Letters, 3 and 9 months, with a profitability that continues to rise and in the case of 9-month paper is already close to 3%. In this way, the fundraising objective set by the agency, which was looking for between 1,500 and 2,500 million euros, is met.
The interest applied for the 9-month paper has been 2.839%, higher than the 2.380% of the December bid, and which is an all-time high. The amount awarded in the 9-month bills has been placed at 1,532.69 million. In three-month bills, the Treasury has reached 520 million euros, at a marginal yield of 2.198%, also much higher than the previous 1.645%. This profitability represents the highest level since 2012.
Treasury Bills returned to positive returns in the second half of 2022 thanks to the change in the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). The organization chaired by Christine Lagarde raised interest rates in the euro area to 2.5% in December, which caused the yield on sovereign debt to also rise.
Goals for 2023
Last week, the Treasury presented its financing strategy for 2023, an exercise in which it will carry out a net issue of 70,000 million euros. The Treasury expects that, like last year, the costs of issuing debt will continue to rise during this year, although in a “contained” way.
Despite the fact that the Treasury has had to raise the interest applied to the bills in today’s bid, the demand from investors has been very high, and has exceeded 7,822 million euros. And it is that not only banks and insurers are investing in Treasury debt, but also the interest of private investors in the absence of remunerated deposits.
In this way, the bid ratio-difference between what was demanded and what was finally placed-has been very high, 3.8 times. The volume placed, those 2,052 million euros, has been located in the middle part of the target set by the Treasury, which is between 1,500 and 2,500 million euros.
