Pakistan to sell 15Bln rupees of PIBs on Oct-30
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's central bank said on Saturday it planned to raise 15 billion rupees ($247.5 million) through the auction of three-, five-, 10-, 15- and 20-year government bonds later this month.

The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement it planned to re-open May 19, 2006, issues of the three-, five- and 10- year Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) on Oct. 30.

The three-, five- and 10-year PIBs pay annual coupons of 9.10, 9.30 and 9.60 percent respectively.

The central bank said it also planned to issue fresh 15- and 20-year PIBs at the same auction, carrying annual coupons of 10.0 and 10.5 percent respectively.
The combined target for the auction is 15 billion rupees.

This will be the first PIB auction to be conducted by the government in the 2006/07 fiscal year, which began on July 1.

In the last PIB auction on May 18, the central bank set a cut-off yield of 9.8746 percent on the benchmark 10-year PIB.

At the same auction, it also set cut-off yields of 9.6674 and 9.4515 percent on the five- and three-year PIBs respectively.

Pakistan launched its first long-term PIBs in December, 2000, to tap institutional investment and set a benchmark for corporate bond yields. ($1=60.61 Pakistani rupees)●