Yields are rising on Tanzania’s 364-day Treasury bills, although demand continues strong, according to the auction results posted on the website of the central Bank of Tanzania and to local news reports citing a market report from Barclays Bank. The average yield-to-maturity was 13.43% (up from 13.18% at the previous auction) on the 364-days bills, 12.86% on the 182-days paper, 11.76% on 91-days and 7.25% on 35 days.
The total amount sought in the 21 November auction was TZS135 billion ($84.2 million) but this was oversubscribed and a total of TZS199bn was offered (48% over-subscribed), so the Government settled on taking TZS168bn. The biggest demand was for the one-year paper, with TZS87.7bn bid against TZS45bn offered with the Government taking TZS71bn. The 91-day was undersubscribed with TZS23bn bid against TZS40bn offered.
According to the press reports of Barclays market report: “The T-Bills auction on Wednesday saw insignificant interest rate change across all tenors as 6-months’ rate remained unchanged, 35- and 91- days bills dropped by 37 and 17 basis points respectively while one-year bill increased by 25 basis points.”
The main investors in Government securities are pension Funds and commercial banks who took more than 60% of the market, followed by insurance funds and a few micro-finance institutions.