Higher interests on T-bills

The interests paid by the Finance Ministry on the T-bills issued rose by 1.68% on Tuesday for the first time in months, seemingly shaking a torpid market, which many thought to be dead. The results met expectations, as the issue on Tuesday was fully subscribed, with banks placing 1,000bn ROL with the Finance Ministry. The Ministry’s decision to pay more for the treasury certificates maturing in one year comes after the National Bank of Romania (NBR) raised its benchmark interest for the money market by one percentage point on Monday. The central bank decided to use a 20.25% interest to alleviate the inflationary pressure generated by the rise in energy tariffs. It had previously increased the interest by one percent to 19.25% early in August. The Finance Ministry at the time did not follow suit and increase interests on its T-bills, which is actually one of the things that turned banks almost completely away from the Ministry to the deposits attracted by the central bank. ZF