October 18, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 5, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 17: Pakistan’s central bank said on Wednesday it planned to raise Rs15 billion ($247.44 million) through an auction of long-term government bonds this month.

The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement it planned to reopen the Aug 22, 2007, issues of the 3-, 5- and 10-year Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) on Oct 30.

It would also re-open Oct 31, 2006, issues of 15- and 20-year PIBs, in addition to reopening the Dec 22, 2006, issue of the 30-year bond, it said.

Settlement will be on Oct. 31.

The 3-, 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year PIBs carry annual coupons of 9.1, 9.3, 9.6, 10 and 10.5 per cent, respectively, while the 30-year paper carries a coupon of 11 per cent.

This will be the third PIB auction to be conducted by the government in the 2007-08 fiscal year, which began on July 1, and the second this month.

The last PIB auction was on Oct 9, when the central bank sold Rs15.29 billion worth of long-term bonds.

The central bank then set a cut-off yield of 10.1897 per cent on the benchmark 10-year paper, 9.8024 on the five-year and 9.6211 per cent on the three-year PIBs.

It also set a cut-off yield of 11.1494 per cent for the 15-year PIB, 11.4103 per cent for the 20-year and 11.6142 per cent for the 30-year securities.

Pakistan launched its first long-term PIBs in December 2000 to tap institutional investment and set a benchmark for corporate bond yields. It issued a 30-year bond for the first time in December last year.—Reuters