Romania Plans To Sell RON6B State Treasuries In October

Romania's Finance Ministry plans to sell 6 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.1981) worth of state treasuries in October, more than the RON4.2 billion it sold in September.

The ministry has scheduled four treasury bill issues and two bond issue sales for October. At the first six-month treasury bill sale due October 5, the ministry plans to raise RON1.1 billion. Another six-month T-bills auction set for October 12 is seen raising RON1 billion. Two auctions for one-year T-bills, scheduled on October 19 and 26, are expected to bring in RON1 billion each.

The ministry plans to sell RON950 million at a five-year treasury bond auction October 8 and a similar amount of three-year bonds October 22.

So far this year, the ministry has sold nearly RON55.5 billion in state treasuries, against RON12.5 billion in the whole of 2008. The ministry also sold EUR447 million in hard currency treasury bonds in August and plans to issue a Eurobond issue worth between EUR500 million and EUR1.5 billion by mid October.

In January-August, Romania's budget deficit was broadly covered through state treasuries issued on the domestic market, as well as by loans taken from the European Commission, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Interest costs rose by 53.9% on the year in the mentioned interval, amounting to RON1.3 billion.

However, the ministry estimated that costs to cover the state deficit will decrease in the coming months, as the external loans offer better terms, including interests, than the internal ones.

curierulnational.ro