Benchmark indices readings at the Nairobi security exchange. [ photo / Nation Media group. ]
Treasury bill subscription rate on the last week auction failed to impress as it accepted bids worth Sh 16.28 billion against a target of Sh24 billion from the three government papers issued through Central Bank of Kenya representing 79.90 per cent overall subscription rate.
According to a weekly financial performance report by the CBK, the 91- day paper attracted bids worth Sh 1.69 billion from investors against a target Sh 4 billion with Treasury accepting all the bids. This represented a 42.37 per cent subscription rate.
The 182-day paper attracted Sh 9.94 billion bids against a target of Sh10 billion with treasury accepting Sh7.24 billion thus representing a 99.44 per cent subscription rate. For the 364 -day paper, the investors offered bids worth Sh 7.53 billion against a target of Sh10 billion as the treasury absorbed Sh 7.34 billion representing a 75.37 per cent.
“The subscription rates for the 91-, 182-, and 364-day papers came in at 42.37 per cent, 99.44 per cent and 75.37 per cent respectively,” said Central Bank of Kenya in its report.
The under-subscription has been largely blamed on the tightening liquidity and the on going sales of Sh 40 billion primary infrastructure bond introduced last week by CBK at a discount ticket of 12.50 per cent.
This weeks subscription rate dropped as compared to the previous week performance that had seen 124.4 per cent oversubscription rate.