Romania Sells 1.34 Mln Lei (317 Mln Euro) in 6-mo T-bills, Yields Fall

The average yield was 10.45%, compared to 10.99% in the previous auction held on July 20, the BNR, which sells government securities on behalf of the Finance Ministry, said in a statement.

Bids were placed for 2.19 billion lei worth of T-bills in Monday's auction. The average accepted price was equal to 94.9811% of par.

The Finance Ministry has said it plans to issue 6.5 billion lei worth of government securities in August.

Romania sold government securities worth nearly 12 billion lei last year, up from 8.7 billion lei in 2007. It has sold 47.55 billion lei in government debt paper so far this year.

The country liberalised its capital market in 2006, giving foreign nationals free access to its government securities. Romania joined the European Union in 2007.

(1 euro = 4.2222 Romanian lei)