Govt raises Rs376 billion through PIBs

The cash-strapped government raised Rs375.8 billion against the set target of Rs100 billion through auctioning three to 10-year Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIB) to commercial banks on Thursday, as lending rate on the long-term bonds remained significantly low – despite a spike – compared to short-term papers.

The lending rate aggressively increased by 145 basis points to a 32-month high at 13.3% on three-year tenure PIB.

The rate, however, remained lower by 1.7% compared to 14.99% on short-term paper (six-month T-bills) auctioned a day ago on Wednesday, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) data.