Romania Sells 650 Mln Lei (152 Mln Euro) in 1-Yr T-bills, Yields Fall

The average yield was 9.9%, down from 10.42% at the auction held on August 10, the BNR, which sells government securities on behalf of the Finance Ministry, said in a statement. Romania rejected all bids for one-year T-bills at the previous two auctions held on August 24 and September 7.

Bids were placed for 1.7 billion lei worth of T-bills in Monday's auction. The average accepted price was equal to 90.8243% of par.

The Finance Ministry has said it plans to issue 5.9 billion lei worth of government securities in September.

Romania sold government securities worth nearly 12 billion lei last year, up from 8.7 billion lei in 2007. It has sold 49.14 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 = 4.2684 Romanian lei)