KARACHI: The government raised Rs2.15 trillion through the auction of market treasury bills but kept the cut-off yields almost unchanged on Wednesday.

What is more significant in the auction was the investors’ rush for the 12-month papers as they were willing to park Rs3.269tr in it. The State Bank in its monetary policy announced on Tuesday said that the inflation would come down in the second half of FY24.

Bankers and other corporate investors fully understand this situation which was the reason for the race to park maximum liquidity in the one-year tenor as the cut-off yield remained unchanged at 21.43 per cent and the government raised the highest amount of Rs1.819tr.

The government picked Rs168.1bn for three-month tenor at 21.44pc. However, the benchmark six-month T-bills attracted the smallest amount of Rs406.5bn and the government raised just Rs5.9bn at 21.42pc, one basis point lower than the last auction.

The government received total bids of Rs4.628tr for all tenors.

The amount raised by the government was less than the auction target of Rs2.25tr.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2023