December 28 (SeeNews) - Romania plans to issue 10 billion lei to 12 billion lei ($4.1 billion/2.9 billion euro) worth of government securities in in the first quarter next year to re-finance public debt and finance budget deficit, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.
"For the first quarter of 2010, the Finance Ministry announces attracting of an indicative amount of between 10-12 billion lei on the domestic Treasury paper market," the ministry said in a statement.
Debt issuance on the domestic market in 2010 as well as refinancing worth 24.59 billion lei of debt that matures next year are expected to cover half of the projected deficit equivalent to 5.9% of Gross Domestic Product planned for 2010, the ministry said.
The ministry added it will issue six-month and one-year Treasury bills, as well as three-, five- and ten-year Treausury notes.
Romania has sold 55.24 billion lei in government debt paper so far this year. It sold government securities worth nearly 12 billion lei last year, up from 8.7 billion lei in 2007. The Finance Ministry has said it plans to issue 4.8 billion lei worth of government securities in December.
(1 euro=4.2013 Romanian lei)