BANJA LUKA: Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic on Monday raised 40 million Bosnian marka ($27.7 million) at a debut auction of a five-year domestic bond aimed at covering the region's budget gap, its Finance Ministry said.
Investors placed bids for 59.9 million marka against 40 million marka on offer. The paper carried a fixed annual coupon of 6 percent.
Bosnia's two regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, have increasingly taken to tapping debt markets to fill budget gaps since the International Monetary Fund in February froze the disbursement of funds under a 385 million euro ($524 million) standby loan.
The payments were halted over the failure of the two regions to implement agreed economic measures.
The IMF has since said it would unfreeze instalments of its standby loan deal for Bosnia after the national parliament passed key laws.
In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, the IMF said it was ready to double the amount to be drawn from the standby for Bosnia from an originally planned 95 million euros to a total of 190 million, to help it cope with damage from the worst floods in living memory.
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