The issue was carried out to refinance expiring short-term bonds, the Ministry of Finance said.

T-bills were sold via an auction with competitive bidding and were aimed at institutional investors only.

The average yield to maturity of the issued 6-month and 12-month T-bills was 2.439 percent and 2.696 percent, respectively.

These T-bills were issued within the framework of the T-bill program approved by the Minister of Finance in 2020. The framework allows for repeated issuance of T-bills with maturities of up to 12 months. The interest rate depends on the market conditions at the time of issuance.

SEB assessed the auction as very successful, noting that previously loans had been obtained at levels close to six- and 12-month Euribor rates, this time the bonds were issued at a significantly lower level than the overall cost of money in the euro area.

While €250 million had been raised over the previous five auctions, this time the state decided to offer investors €92 million more in bonds.

SEB said this did not come as a surprise, as the state budget deficit has grown significantly due to increased defense spending.

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