The Central Bank of Oman increased OMR83 million through issuing treasury bills on Monday. The value of treasury bills issued amounted to OMR 10 million, with a maturity period of 28 days.
The average accepted price was OMR99.705 on every OMR100, and the lowest accepted price was OMR99.705 on every OMR100. The average discount rate and the average yield had reached 3.84554 percent and 3.85691 percent.
In addition to it, the treasury bills amounting to OMR45 million for a maturity period of 91 days were also allotted. The average accepted cost was OMR98.069 on each OMR100, and the minimum accepted cost was OMR98.065 on each OMR100. The average discount rate and the average yield reached 3.87168 percent and 3.94789 percent.
The treasury bills are short-term and highly secured financial instruments that the Ministry of Finance issues, and this offers the licensed commercial banks a chance to invest their excess funds.
The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) plays the role of the Issue Manager and offers the added advantage of easily accessible liquidity with discounting and repurchase facilities (Repo).
However, it can be added that the interest rate of the Repo operations with CBO is 4.25 percent, and the discount rate of the Treasury Bills Discounting Facility with CBO is 4.75 percent.
Moreover, treasury bills ensure that the local money market is boosted by the establishment of a benchmark yield curve for short-term interest rates. Thus, the Government may also resort to this instrument whenever it is required for financing its recurrent expenditures.
