December 29 (SeeNews) - Romania's finance ministry said on Thursday it has sold 12 billion lei ($2.6 billion/ 2.4 billion euro) in fixed-rate government securities to 283,000 individual investors during 2022.
Over 2022, Romanians invested in government securities with maturities of up to five years, with interests between 4.5% and 9.15, the finance ministry said in a press release.
The ministry also said that it is offering three issues of fixed-rate government securities to individual investors, without setting a target for the amount it wants to raise in the three-week subscription period starting January 3.
The 'Tezaur' government securities of 1 leu in par value each will be issued with maturities of 1, 2 and 3 years and annual interest rates of 7.35%, 7.6% and 8%, respectively.
This compares to interest rates of 2% to 9.25% for one-year bank deposits, 7% to 9.6% for two-year deposits and 7.2% to 9.8% for three-year deposits, according to data published by the biggest local banks.
Coupon payments on the issues are due annually. The income from coupon payments is non-taxable in Romania.
The proceeds from the issuance of government securities will be used to finance the budget deficit and refinance public debt, the ministry said.
(1 euro=4.9458 lei)