Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) will have to repay maturing Treasury (T)- Bills of known tenures totalling Rs 64,841 million (Rs 65 billion) to the market by next Friday (26 May).
Their splits are Rs 24,463 million 91-day maturities, Rs 14,766 million 182-day maturities and Rs 25,612 million 364-day maturities, respectively. Howbeit, maturing T Bills held by the CBSL and also repayable by Friday are unknown as CBSL the steward of GoSL debt doesn’t disclose such figures.
Additionally another 182-day maturity totalling Rs 1,231 million and a 91 day maturity of unknown value and embedded in all three maturities and totalling Rs 7,133 million in full is also repayable to the market by next Friday. CBSL hasn’t given their separate splits, ie the values of the 91-day maturity, 182-day maturity and the 364-day maturity embedded in the above full total of Rs 7,133 million, separately.
Generally such maturities are repaid by once more borrowing from the market by calling for new T Bill auctions, normally held weekly. In this connection, CBSL on behalf of the GoSL, normally advertises such auction calls on its website on Fridays (today), with auctions held on Wednesdays (24 May) and settlement on the coming Fridays (26 May). But at the time of writing, no such auction calls have been made.
Normally, investments in T Bills and T Bonds are risk free because in the event GoSL is unable to repay such debt, generally, CBSL is usually mandated print demand-pull inflationary money and repay such creditors. Money printing is the sold prerogative of the CBSL. CBSL is the steward of GoSL debt. Selling T Bills and T Bonds to the domestic market is a popular way GoSL raises money to meet its domestic needs.