The first auction of twelve-month Treasury bills since the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to raise interest rates to 4.5% in mid-September has closed with a rise in the cost of this debt, which now reaches its highest level since 2012.
The interest on the issue stood at 3.87% in the Treasury auction this Tuesday, compared to the 3.68% marked in both August and September, when the debt market tended to stabilize due to the forecast that the ECB did not raise interest rates again.
The latest inflationary tensions caused by energy contributed both to the decision of the body chaired by Christine Lagarde to raise rates and to the increase in profitability in the form of twelve-month bills, a favorite among institutional and individual investors.
Today's rise places the interest close to 4% again and beats the maximum recorded so far this year, recorded in the July auction, when these bills were placed at 3.804%.
The Treasury has awarded 3,535 million euros in this type of bills, for which a demand equivalent to 6,340 million has been received. Non-competitive requests, which correspond to minority investors, are decreasing and have remained at 754 million.
This Tuesday the Treasury has also placed 1,037 million euros in 6-month bills at a rate of 3.83%, also above last month's reference of 3.67%. The demand has been equivalent to 2,818 million and small investors have bought bills for 535 million.
The ECB has announced that the current level of rates should be sufficient to restore an inflation level of 2% over time, which is the central bank's objective.
The forecast is that the price of money will stabilize after fourteen months of increases, which will help to reduce the difference in profitability between the different temporary types of bills.
