Jordan 3-yr T-bond sale oversubscribed; yields drop

Jordan 3-yr T-bond sale oversubscribed; yields drop

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) had invited offers for 50 million dinars worth of treasury bonds on Sunday.

December 13, 2010 3:50 by Reuters

The Central Bank of Jordan said on Monday it sold 50 million dinars of debt in an auction of three-year T-bonds that saw average yields fall to 4.406 percent compared with 4.674 percent at the previous sale last month.

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) had invited offers for 50 million dinars worth of treasury bonds on Sunday.

The sale on Monday was oversubscribed with offers worth 149 million dinars, but only yields ranging from 4.500 to 4.350 pct were accepted, the central bank said.

The bonds, which are open to both local and foreign investors, mature on December 13, 2013.

This is the first local bond issue since Jordan’s successful launch of a $750 million five-year Eurobond on November 8. which officials say has eased the need to finance growing public debt from the domestic market.

Finance ministry officials say higher costs of local borrowing this year and the need to find new sources of funds to finance the budget deficit had encouraged the kingdom to tap international markets to capitalise on healthy global demand for sovereign issues from emerging markets.

(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Toby Chopra)