Business & Finance

Serbia sells 3.3bn dinars in two-year debt

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BELGRADE: Serbia raised 3.3 billion dinars ($38 million) of two-year debt on the domestic market, or just 33.7 percent of the 10 billion dinars offered on Tuesday.

The auction took place at the same time as parliament debated a draft revision of the 2013 budget to raise the deficit and cut spending.

The issuance was at a yield of 10.48 percent, up from 9.89 percent at a previous auction in May, the Finance Ministry's Debt Agency said in a statement.

The ministry also plans to auction 10 billion dinars in 53-week treasury bills on July 10, a part of auctions for the third quarter totalling 79 billion dinars.

The draft budget revision raises the deficit to 4.7 percent of national output from an original 3.6 percent and envisions savings of 36 billion dinars in cuts in administration and subsidies for loss-making state-run firms. It however allows a 0.5 rise of public sector wages and pensions.

Sales of Serbia's maturities have underperformed since May when the International Monetary Fund warned Belgrade to cut spending or risk its deficit increasing to above 8 percent of GDP this year.

Serbia must borrow to cover its financing needs of about 631 billion dinars ($7.2 billion) for 2013. The draft budget revision also foresees an increase in sales of domestic maturities by 65 billion dinars to a total of 330 billion dinars.

The draft also sees increased Eurobond sales in 2013 to a total of 221.2 billion dinars. The country has already sold a $1.5 billion seven-year Eurobond in February.