KARACHI: The government kept treasury bill rates almost unchanged in an auction held on Wednesday, but the returns on all tenors of T-bills remained higher than the State Bank’s policy rate of 11.5 per cent.
This was the last auction of T-bills before announcement of the next monetary policy on Oct 26. The results showed that the government raised Rs417.6 billion through this auction and another Rs267.9bn through non-competitive bids, making a total of Rs685.5bn.
But investors, mostly banks, were eager to park their maximum liquidity in government papers as the option for domestic lending looks extremely limited.
According to financial experts, investors are shy of taking risks amid the Gulf war and the political uncertainty in the country.
Domestic investors have been hoping over the last three years for initiatives by the government to stimulate the economy. The IMF had forecast a growth rate of 3.5pc for FY27, but the finance minister said on Tuesday he hoped for a 4pc growth.
The absence of domestic investments has created a serious problem for the country while policymakers are unable to bring them back into the economy.
