15.09.2014

The Ministry of Finance reopened the 10.5 year issue of Government Securities (GS) issued on 15 January 2014 with maturity 15 July 2024. The issue is a reference one in respect of the harmonised long term interest rate to evaluate convergence level, part of the Maastricht criteria in 2014.

At the auction held on 15 September 2014 GS to the amount of BGN 60 million were placed, the annual average weighted yield achieved is 3.12%, which is historically the lowest value in this maturity segment. The participants showed strong interest and the total amount subscribed reached BGN 115.75 million, the coverage coefficient being 1.93. The biggest amount of GS acquired banks - 51.67%, followed by insurance companies - 25.25% and pension funds - 23.08%.

The yield achieved is below that on bonds denominated in national currency of a number of EU Member States and countries from the region: Poland (3.22%), Portugal (3.24%), Romania (4.52%), Hungary (4.90%), Greece (5.69%) and Turkey (9.15%).