June 20 (SeeNews) - Serbia has issued 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) of ten-year Treasury notes, to be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the finance ministry said on Thursday.
The transaction which took place on June 19 represents the first Serbian euro-denominated government securities issue on the international capital market and the proceeds will be used to finance the early redemption of $1.1 billion of US dollar-denominated Eurobonds, the finance ministry said in a statement.
In this way, Serbia has saved over 3.8 billion dinars ($36 million/32 million euro) in interest payments alone on two issues of US dollar-denominated notes, placed in 2011 and 2013 and maturing in 2020 and 2021, respectively, the ministry explained.
"The successful fiscal consolidation and comprehensive reforms carried out over the past years, along with favourable conditions in the international financial capital market, resulted in a low interest rate of 1.5% (coupon rate) and a 1.62% yield, with demand reaching a record-high 6.4 billion euro," finance minister Sinisa Mali noted in the statement.
A total of 300 investors from all over the world showed interest in the issue, Mali added.
Serbia's budget was in surplus of 32.2 billion dinars in 2018, compared to a surplus of 33.9 billion dinars in the previous year. In the first four months of 2019, the country recorded a budget surplus of 5.5 billion dinars.
($ = 0.884677 euro)