The Public Treasury has managed to place 4,938 million today in a new auction of Treasury bills. An investment product that has been in great demand in recent weeks due to the increase in profitability that the debt market is registering. Despite the fact that the agency had avoided paying interest of more than 3%, taking advantage of the avalanche of requests received, this time it has been forced to exceed this ceiling for the first time since July 2012.
The marginal interest rate has been placed at 3.164%, above the 2.693% of the previous auction in February. Specifically, 2,720 million in 6-month bills have been awarded, with an average return of 3.114%, compared to the reference 2.675% from a month ago. While in 12-month bills, the Treasury has managed to capture 4,034 million with an average interest of 3.295%, higher than the 2.813% in February.
The Treasury had set itself the goal of awarding up to 5,500 million in the auction, a figure that contrasts with the 8,695 million requests it has received. The demand, therefore, continues to be higher than the supply. The reason is the great interest aroused by the debt market, especially that which offers shorter-term returns, which is explained by the policy of successive rises in interest rates of the European Central Bank (ECB) and by the fact that, despite the current situation, the profitability offered by large bank deposits is still unattractive.
For all these reasons, the rising remuneration of bills and the need that many citizens feel to make their savings profitable to prevent them from being devalued by inflation has triggered the demand for this type of investment products, to the point that at the beginning of In February, long queues formed at the doors of the Bank of Spain branches and the Treasury website collapsed. A situation that has led the supervisor to impose the obligation to request an appointment in its branches for those who want to invest in public debt.