Maldives central bank has said the total outstanding stock of government securities, which includes treasury bills and treasury bonds, remained largely unchanged in monthly terms with a total MVR23.4 billion at the end of May this year.
According to the monthly economic review released by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), the
investment in treasury bills increased marginally by one percent (MVR157.5 million), while investment in treasury bonds largely remained unchanged during May.
"The monthly increase in treasury bills investment was due to an increase in commercial banks investment in treasury bills, which off set the decrease in such investment by other financial corporations," the review read.
In annual terms, the outstanding stock of government securities registered a growth of 10%, owing to
a significant increase in the outstanding amount of treasury bonds and a notable increase in the outstanding treasury bills.
The outstanding treasury bonds and treasury bills rose by 19% (MVR1.5 billion) and 5% (MVR612.2 million), respectively.
The growth in treasury bills was due to the increase in T-bills holdings by the MMA and commercial banks which off set the decrease in such investment by other financial corporations, while the growth in treasury bonds largely reflected the conversion of part of the treasury bills to treasury bonds.
T-bill interest rates
MMA said the T-bills of all maturities continue to be issued under a tap system since they were reverted back in the year 2014. Since the rates on 28-, 91-, 182- and 364-day treasury bills were lowered to 3.50%, 3.87%, 4.23% and 4.60%, respectively in October 2015, it has remained unchanged up until May.
