RIYADH: Bahrain’s latest issue of weekly treasury bills, valued at 70 million Bahraini dinars ($185.7 million), has been oversubscribed by 121 percent.
The bills, issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain, hold a weighted average interest rate of 6.3 percent compared to 6.14 percent of the previous issue on Aug. 2, according to Bahrain News Agency.
The issuance date of the new bills is Aug. 9 with a maturity of 91 days.
The average price for the issue stands at 98.43 percent with the lowest accepted price being 98.38 percent.
Currently, the total outstanding value of Bahrain’s government treasury bills is 2.11 billion dinars.
The country’s government treasury bills have maintained a subscription rate of over 100 percent for the past two months with some weeks reaching above 200 percent.
The treasury bills issued on July 26 received an oversubscription of 180 percent despite having an interest rate of 6.05 percent, lower than the 6.07 percent of the issue before.
Treasury bills are guaranteed short-term financial instruments that offer licensed commercial banks the opportunity to invest their surplus funds.
Furthermore, treasury bills are also known to promote and further propel the domestic money market by creating a benchmark yield curve for short-term interest rates.
Bahrain has recorded strong economic growth with a rise in investor trust in its non-oil sector.
The country posted a real gross domestic product growth rate of 2 percent in the first quarter of 2023, fueled by a rise of 3.5 percent in the non-oil sector.
According to the Bahraini Ministry of Finance and National Economy, the average quarterly increase of the annual non-oil GDP has reached about 5.7 percent since implementing its Economic Recovery Plan in October 2021.
The initiative aims to stimulate growth, attract investments and create job opportunities through five priorities and 27 programs.
In its annual economic report released in March, the ministry reported a growth rate of 4.9 percent in 2022, the highest development pace since 2013.
The document also highlighted that Bahrain was steadily progressing in its economic diversification journey as its non-oil real GDP witnessed 6.2 percent growth in 2022, the highest since 2012.
The country’s non-oil GDP growth in 2022 also surpassed the 5 percent annual target set by its economic recovery plan.
