BELGRADE: Serbia plans to sell a total of 13 billion dinars ($150 million) of debt on the domestic market next week, the finance ministry's Debt Agency said on Friday, to help finance its budget deficit.
Serbia, a European Union membership candidate, must borrow at home and abroad to plug a budget gap seen at 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.
The Debt Agency announced the sale of 10 billion dinars in 53-week treasury bills on Tuesday and an auction of 3 billion dinars in six-months treasury bills two days later. The agency did not specify the yield for either tranche.
Belgrade this week sold 50 million euros ($64 million) in 2-year euro-denominated treasury bonds at a 4.87 percent yield and another 10 billion dinars ($115 million) of two-year debt at a 10.8 percent yield.
The ministry plans to auction a total of 1 billion euros in dinar- and euro-denominated debt between April and June, roughly the same as in Q1.
Serbia's public debt reached 57 percent of GDP at the end of February and is expected to rise to 65 percent by the end of the year.
On Feb. 15 the country sold a $1.5 billion seven-year bond at a yield of 5.15 percent. It also sought sovereign lenders including China, Russia and United Arab Emirates.
Belgrade also wants to start talks with the International Monetary Fund over a precautionary loan deal in May, after lender suspended a previous 1 billion euro arrangement over inflated spending and debt.
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