Govt Raises Rs. 259 Billion Via T-Bills, Cut-Off Yields Rise Slightly 

The cut-off yields on Treasury Bills (T-Bills) went up by up to 17 basis points (bps) in the auction of the paper held on Wednesday.  According to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the government raised Rs. 259 billion against a target of Rs. 350 billion in the auction with participation of Rs. 737 billion.  Official data indicates that the cut-off yield for the 3-month T-Bills went up by 2 bps to 11.8247 percent. The cut-off yield for the 6-month T-Bills went up by 17 bps to 11.6749 percent while the cut-off yield for the 12-month T-Bills rose by 6 bps to 11.6498 percent.  The government raised Rs. 130.4 billion for the three-month paper in the competitive auction. It also raised Rs. 14.4 billion and Rs. 70.1 billion for the 6-month and 12-month T-Bills respectively.  A further breakdown of the official numbers indicates that the government also raised Rs. 44 billion through non-competitive bids. This took the total amount raised during the auction to Rs. 259 billion.