The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is inviting investors to buy a five year treasury bond with an average interest payment of 11.49% per annum. The KSh 25 billion bond was initially auctioned on 13th December whereby investors raised KSh28.5 billion.
Treasury only took up KSh 18.7 billion of the funds raised and rejected the rest of the bids which demanded exceedingly high interest payment. The agency is back in the market seeking to collect KSh 9.7 billion from the five year government bond that will be on sale for two days from 17th to 19th December.
Investors are seeking high interest payment on bonds following the recent removal of the rate cap law. Banks which heavily invested in government securities during the lending cap period are now putting their funds in the private sector where they can generate higher returns.
Additionally, bond buyers are now drawn to short term bonds as they expect interest rates to go up. Yields on three months and six months treasury bills improved by 0.3 and 0.4 percent respectively in November.
Sterling Capital Head of Research Renaldo D’Souza told Citizen Digital that Investors are confident that interest rates will go up and are therefore reluctant to invest in long-tenured bonds.
Related:
CBK Issues Treasury Bills Worth KSh24 Billion Afresh
Treasury Bills Undersubscribed After Rate Cap Repeal
What you need to know about BeeDee; The first CBK-approved online bid bonds platform
