State plans to collect more from T-bills

The Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) will this week attempt to raise the sum of its treasury bill issues, a plan which forms part of the Finance Ministry’s new strategy to replenish the cash the government is drawing from its safety cushion, so as to delay or even avoid taking recourse to the European Stability Mechanism’s credit line altogether.

The issue of the seven-year bond two weeks ago marked the beginning of this new campaign, while in the next two to three months the PDMA will proceed with the issue of bond issues for small amounts, the next one probably being a new 10-year bond. This, combined with the increase in T-bill issues (by at least 400 million euros per issue) or even extraordinary issues, should help the ministry to finance the government’s economy-boosting measures while retaining the state cash reserves at a high level.

Therefore on Wednesday the PDMA will auction 26-week T-bills of 1 billion euros, with the aim – depending on bids – of drawing a considerably higher amount (it usually draws 1.6 times more than the issue).