The Ministry of Finance revealed that the government issued Treasury bills (T- Bills) worth MVR 475.5 million over the past two weeks to settle the state’s cash flow.
According to weekly statistics released by the ministry, MVR 231.4 million of T-Bills were sold in the past week in addition to MVR 244.1 in the previous week.
While the government auctioned a total of MVR 936.4 million of T-Bills from January 2018 till date, half of these sales occurred in the second and third week of December. MVR 36 million of T-bills were issued in the first week of December.
Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) currently sells T-Bills with maturities once every week. MMA issues T-Bills with maturities of 28 days, 91 days, 182 days and 364 days. Interest rates increase along with the payment period.
Large quantities of T-Bills were also sold during the presidency of Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. In August 2017, the issuance of T-bills reached MVR 1.2 billion.
A total sum of MVR 15 billion remains outstanding in government securities including treasury bills, treasury bonds and Islamic securities. Proportionately this figure represents 53 percent of the MVR 27.9 billion budget allocated for 2018.
The government generally sells these bonds to the Maldives Pension Administration Office (MPAO), banks, state-owned enterprises and private companies.
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