Longer View

The Central Bank said Tuesday it was extending its yield curve further by issuing a 15-year bond this week.
The maiden Rs. 1.5 bn issue carries a 8.5 percent coupon rate as opposed to the quarterly and half-yearly coupons offered on present treasury bonds.





rn

rnA further Rs. 1 bn will be raised through a 10-year bond.

The bank hopes these long-term issues will eventually become the benchmark for the corporate sector, Superintendent Public Debt, Dharma Dheerasinghe said.

rn

rnThe market currently takes the six-year bond as the benchmark. Five and six year bonds were the longest tenures to come out before the recent 10-year auction.

rn

rnHe said the response the first 10-year bond was phenomenon with the issue being oversubscribed by seven times.rn

rnldblquote During the first week, we found that around Rs. 100 mn of this issue was traded in the secondary market, dblquote he said adding that the bank is planning a few more issues of t10-year paper to build up liquidity in the market.

rn