NAIROBI, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenya accepted a record 230 million U.S. dollars from two Treasury bills it auctioned this week amid swelling domestic debt.
The amount is one of the highest the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has accepted from bidders of the 91-day and 364-day Treasury bills in weeks, having suspended sale of 182-day bill.
As in the previous week, the CBK had put up for sale 91-day and 182-day Treasury bills worth 194 million dollars, 97 million dollars from each.
"The total number of bids received amounted to 121 million dollars representing 125 percent subscription for the 91-day bill and 169 million dollars representing 174 percent subscription for the 364-day bill. Bids accepted amounted to 110 million dollars for 91 days and 120 million dollars for the 364 days bills," said the CBK in auction results Friday.
The weighted average rate of accepted bids, which will be applied for non-competitive bids, was 8.77 percent for the 91-day and 10.9 percent for 364-day bills, a rise of 0.013 and 0.006 respectively.
The 230 million dollars raised this week have pushed up the East African nation's domestic debt, which currently stands at 19.1 billion dollars.
A spike in domestic borrowing particularly through weekly Treasury bills and monthly bonds for budgetary support and infrastructure projects has raised the domestic debt from 18.6 in the third quarter of last year.
Internal borrowing is now at the highest level as the East African nation struggles to meet its financial demands amid low revenue collection.
This week, the country's world first mobile-based Treasury bond targeting low income earners raised 1.5 million dollars, with the paper being snapped up in just days.
