The government raised Rs255.064bn from the auction of Treasury bills of various tenors on April 29, despite receiving bids worth a much bigger Rs723.74bn.

Of the total, six-month T-bills fetched Rs123.526bn at a cut-off yield of 7.2954pc, followed by 12-month T-bills with Rs93.328bn at 7.2239pc and three-month T-bills with Rs8.211bn at 7.3798pc.

Of the bids received, banks and other investors showed most interest in 12-month T-bills, which received bids worth Rs311.155bn, followed by six-month T-bills with Rs310.9bn and three-month T-bills with Rs101.68bn.

Six-month Treasury bills fetched the highest amount of Rs123.53bn during the latest T-bill auction

Meanwhile, according to the statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ending April 17, total assets of all scheduled banks crossed the Rs12trn mark and reached Rs12,030.05bn, up 0.6pc over the preceding week’s figure of Rs11,959.427bn.

Total assets of all commercial banks stood at Rs11,843.855bn in the week, up 0.61pc over the previous week’s figure of Rs11,772bn. Total assets of all specialised banks stood at Rs186.2bn in the week.

In an open market operation last Thursday, the central bank mopped up Rs163.3bn from the banking system through a four-day contract, at a rate of return of 7.48pc.

Cash and balances with treasury banks of all scheduled banks rose 0.53pc to Rs683.58bn in the week, against the earlier week’s level of Rs679.991bn.

Cash and balances with treasury banks of all commercial banks stood at Rs681.646bn in the week, against the preceding week’s figure of Rs677.798bn, up 0.57pc. Cash and balances with treasury banks of all specialised banks stood at Rs1.934bn in the week, against the preceding week’s figure of Rs2.193bn.

Investments of all scheduled banks stood at Rs5,823.172bn in the week under review, showing an increase of 0.25pc over the previous week’s figure of Rs5,808.682bn.

Investments of all commercial banks stood at Rs5,796.335bn in the week, against the preceding week’s figure of Rs5,779.518bn. Investments of all specialised banks stood at Rs26.836bn in the week, against the earlier week’s figure of Rs29.164bn.

Gross advances by scheduled banks stood at Rs4,435.207bn in the week ending April 17, down 0.07pc over the preceding week’s figure of Rs4,438.493bn. Advances by commercial banks declined to Rs4,287.989bn in the week, against the previous week’s Rs4,291.914bn. Advances by specialised banks stood at Rs147.218 in the week, against the previous week’s Rs146.58bn.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, May 4th, 2015

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