Capital Markets
Central Bank sets Sh50bn target for April bond sales
Friday March 17 2023
The Central Bank of Kenya in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Central Bank of Kenya is targeting Sh50 billion from the reopening of three bonds –a three, 10 and 15-year paper— in April.
The government’s fiscal agent is looking to raise Sh20 billion from a 10-year bond that was first auctioned in 2018.
The paper, which has 5.8 years left to maturity, has a coupon or interest rate of 12.502 percent. The bond is on sale until April 4.
Read: Treasury raises Sh60bn from April bond sales
The CBK is also seeking an aggregate of Sh30 billion from the sale of the three-year and 15-year securities which are on sale until April 18.
The three-year bond has 2.1 years left to maturity and attracts a higher withholding tax rate of 15 percent on interest earned.
Investors are taxed at a rate of 10 percent on the interest paid on the other long-term bonds.
The short-duration bond, first auctioned last year, has a coupon rate of 11.766 percent. The 15-year paper has 10.9 years to redemption and carries an interest rate of 12.857 percent.
Investors are expected to get higher rates on the latest sale of the securities which comes at a time when there is a general rise in interest rates.
Long-term bonds have recently been auctioned at coupon rates topping the 14 percent mark as the government seeks to raise funds to plug its budget deficit.
Investors are clamouring for higher rates to compensate them for the risks of high inflation and a sharp depreciation of the local currency.
The rate of inflation rose to 9.2 percent last month, climbing from nine percent in January. High inflation erodes the purchasing power of interest earned by fixed-income investors as well as the principal that is paid at the end of the holding period.
Read: CBK eyes Sh20bn in reopened March infrastructure bond
The reopening of the three bonds comes at the close of the second sale of the March infrastructure bond through which the CBK was seeking to raise Sh20 billion.
The sale of the amortised 17-year paper, whose holders are exempt from withholding taxes, closes today (Friday). It is the most lucrative bond outstanding with a coupon of 14.39 percent.
