KARACHI: The government on Wednesday raised Rs1,742 billion which was more than double the auction target of market treasury bills.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported that the government target for the auction was Rs800bn. A total of Rs2,370bn bids were received reflecting that the banks were eagerly willing to park their liquidity in risk-free government papers.

Banking experts said the risk of lending increases with the rise in the interest rate. Banks ask for higher than the policy interest rate, which is 13.75pc, making loans prone to default.

The cut-off yields on three-month T-bills were slightly reduced by two basis points to 15.23pc, for six-month it was cut by 15bps to 14.8pc and for 12-month papers it was unchanged at 14.95pc.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2022