March 29, 2024 13:40 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
PM Modi has mastered art of manipulating democracy, hurting Constitution: Mallikarjun Kharge | Mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest at 63 | NIA arrests key conspirator in Bengaluru cafe blast case | Actor Govinda returns to politics after 14 years of 'vanvas', joins Eknath Shinde camp | 'To browbeat and bully others is vintage Congress culture': PM posts after 600 lawyers write to CJI
Kenyan banks swamp debt market as COVID-19 slows down economic activities

Kenyan banks swamp debt market as COVID-19 slows down economic activities

India Blooms News Service | @indiablooms | 10 Jul 2020, 05:20 pm

Nairobi/Xinhua: Kenya's short-term government securities received the highest subscription in history this week as banks swamped the debt market with bids amid reduced economic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 91-, 182- and 364-day Treasury bills attracted subscriptions of up to 950 percent, with bidders mainly going for the 91-day paper, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said on Friday on auction results.

During the auction, the apex bank put up for sale 91-day bills worth 4 billion shillings (about 38 million U.S. dollars) and received bids worth 379 million dollars, an uptake of 948 percent.

The CBK floated 182- and 364-day papers worth 100 million dollars each and received bids worth 273 million dollars and 206 million dollars respectively.

David Luusa, the bank's director of financial markets, said total bids received topped 860 million dollars for the bills worth 240 million dollars floated.

The CBK accepted bids worth 462 million dollars, nearly twice the money it had sought at low-interest rates of between 6 and 7 percent.

Analysts attributed the increased activities on the debt market to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompts banks to shun risky investment in the private sector and to lend to the government for the short-term. 

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.