Treasury puts up Ksh.75 billion infrastructure bond

By Kepha Muiruri For Citizen Digital

File Photo of The National Treasury.

The National Treasury is seeking to tap Ksh.75 billion from local borrowing through its issued September infrastructure bond (IFB).

The new IFB is timed at a tenure of 21 years and will be open to investor bids until September 7.

The issue is expected to attract heavy investor interests given the bond’s tax free status.

The exchequer will meanwhile will be hoping to extend its smooth run in meeting its local borrowing requirements as investors continue to pack their money into government paper.

This month, the Treasury scooped an easy 80.3 billion shillings to surpass a Ksh.60 billion target after investors packed Ksh.104.6 billion in August’s Treasury bond (T-bond).

The greater appetites for bonds by investors have seen the Treasury remain ahead of its 2021-2022 fiscal cycle local borrowing targets.

Data from the Statement of actual revenues and net exchequer issues as at July 30 shows the Treasury had raised Ksh.119.7 billion from local borrowing in the opening month of the current budget cycle.

This to cover 11.9 per cent of June 2022 gross domestic borrowing target of Ksh.1.008 trillion.

Investors continue to embrace government paper as a risk averse measure to the volatility created by the COVID-19 pandemic.