The Finance Ministry has begun to issue 3-month, 6-month, 9-month, and 12-month T-bills with a face value of USD 100. These will replace the Tenge-denominated debt securities that the ministry issued before the introduction of the floating Tenge. The new securities are regulated by a governmental decree dated 9 April 1999. Both Kazakhstani and foreign companies may hold these securities. However, only primary dealers may take part in T-bill auctions while other investors can participate in the initial auctions through them. The auction participants will have to file their bids in dollars whereas all payments for purchased securities will be made in Tenge the day after the auctions at the National Bank exchange rate which was in effect that day.

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On 12 April the Finance Ministry jointly with the National Bank held the first auction of 6-month securities. The issuer raised USD 2.4m—it planned to place USD 2.0m. The average yield was 7.56%. The securities were sold at an average price of USD 96.36.

The first auction of 3-month USD 100 T-bills was conducted on 13 April. The announced volume of the issue was USD 3m. Here, the placed volume reached USD 3.4m with an average price of USD 98.19. The average yield at this auction was 7.37%. (IRBIS)