Demand for the Kingdom of Bahrain sovereign debt has remained strong during the first quarter of 2011, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced. Between January and the end of March 2011, the CBB issued three month Treasury Bills at an average coverage of 283%, and
six month bills an average coverage of 340%. Demand for Shari’ah-compliant securities was even stronger with the coverage of both three and six month instruments exceeding
500%. Demand for debt with longer maturities also remained strong. The CBB was able to issue 12 month Government Treasury Bills at a coverage of 211%, and recently successfully issued a five year maturity Islamic Leasing Sukuk in the local market with a value of BHD 200 million (US$530 million) and a rate of return of 5.5%. The strong domestic demand for Kingdom of Bahrain sovereign debt is testament both to the depth and liquidity of our local markets as well as market participants' confidence in the Kingdom's economic management. |
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