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 47.560 million to the market by next Monday (8 May).
Their splits are Rs 30,180 million 91 day maturities, Rs 3,517 million 182 day maturities and Rs 13,863 million 364 day maturities, respectively. Howbeit, maturing T Bills held by the CBSL and also repayable by next Monday are unknown as CBSL the steward of GoSL debt doesn’t disclose such figures.
Additionally another 364 day maturity, embedded in both 182 and 364 day maturities and totalling Rs 2,693 million in full is also repayable to the market by next Monday. However, CBSL hasn’t given their separate splits, ie the value of the 182-day maturity separately and the value of the 364-day maturity embedded in the above full total of Rs 2,693 million, separately, respectively.
Further, another 91 day maturity, embedded in both 182 and 364 day maturities together as well and totalling Rs 83,824 million in full is also repayable to the market by next Monday. However, like as the above, CBSL hasn’t given their separate splits, ie the values of the 91-day, 182-day and the 364-day maturities embedded in the above full total of Rs 83,824 million, separately.
Generally such maturities are repaid by once more borrowing from the market by calling for new T Bill auctions. In this connection, CBSL on behalf of the GoSL will hold its largest ever T Bill auction in its 100 year old history by offering Rs 160 billion worth of T Bills by an auction to the market on Wednesday (3 May), with settlement by next Monday, data on the CBSL website yesterday (Thursday 27 April) showed.The previous highest offering was a sum of Rs 125 billion made at an auction held last month (22 March). Meanwhile, the splits of Wednesday’s offering are Rs 80 billion worth of 91-day (three months) maturities, Rs 30 billion 182-day (six months) maturities and Rs 50 billion 364-day (one year) maturities respectively.
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.