HE public treasury placed this tuesday 5,035.03 million euro short-term debtin the expected mid range and succeeded by delivering higher returns For 6-month and 12-month bills, according to data published by the Bank of Spain.
The improvement in the interest rates offered in parallel with the ECB’s last interest rate increases this year, Investment appetite preserved The total demand for both references covers a large part of the Spanish securities markets, with demands of 9,235.42 million euros, almost doubling the amount issued.
Specifically, the Treasury invested 985.03 million euros in six-month bonds against demand of 2,650.28 million euros, offering a marginal return of 3.688%, above the 3.635% of the previous issue.
An organization affiliated with the Ministry of Economy in the auction of twelve-month bonds, 4,050 million euros6,585.14 million demands came from investors and the marginal interest was determined as 3.359%, exceeding the previous 3.314%.
Despite increase the fee The interest offered to investors by both references did not reach the maximum level of 10 years, exceeding the 3.8% reached last year.
This Tuesday’s auction was held after the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) recently decided to maintain interest rates; Thus, the reference interest rate for refinancing operations will remain at 4.50%, while the deposit interest will also remain at 4%. The lending rate is at 4.75 percent.
In doing so, the currency issuer left interest rates unchanged for the third consecutive meeting since it put on the brakes at its October meeting after ten consecutive increases in the currency’s price to its highest level in more than 20 years. years.
Monetary policy decisions affect Treasury auctionsIn recent months, it has been observed that the fees offered to investors have increased in parallel with the rate increases. This has led to increased interest in borrowing, especially when households purchase Treasury bills.
Households remain the main bearers of bills
And this, private households and institutions Non-profit companies serving households (Isflsh) held 950 million euros of Treasury bills in November 2022, rising to 23,977 million euros in the same month of 2023, becoming the largest such holders of short-term debt for the fourth consecutive month.
According to the latest data published by the Bank of Spain and collected by Europa Press, the high profitability of short-term securities has had a very significant impact on the distribution of Treasury bill stocks. Households and non-financial institutions significantly increased their participation Last year, the share increased from 1.3% in November 2022 to over 30% in 2023.
Households, which increased their assets by 4.7% compared to October, held the most Spanish Treasury bonds for the fourth time in history in November, ahead of foreign investors (16 billion 737 million) who have decreased their assets since July. in such debts.
After foreign investors, holders of Treasury bills include monetary financial institutions (10 billion 918 million), money market funds and other financial intermediaries (10 billion 189 million), non-financial companies (6 billion 15 million) and public administrations (4 billion 104 million). taking.
2024 Treasury financing program
Treasury’s 2024 financing strategy foresees the following: new financing needs approximately 55,000 million for this year, which represents a decrease of 10,000 million compared to 2023.
On its part, expected gross issuance It will amount to 257.572 million euros, It is 2% higher than in 2023 due to the increase in depreciations, the majority of which will be covered by the issuance of medium and long-term instruments in order to maintain the average life of the public debt portfolio.
Regarding the regular Treasury bond issuance, it is planned to hold 48 regular Government Bonds, Bonds and Debt auctions.
Additionally, in 2024, the Treasury will once again resort to syndication for the issuance of some State obligations references.
Other objectives for 2024 will be to continue the diversification of the investor base and to commit to the issuance of green bonds as a structural element of the financing program, thereby strengthening the sustainable finance market in Spain.