Treasury bills have become a growing investment instrument for Spanish families due to the increase in remuneration due to the rise in interest rates. In the first two months of the year, more than 11,000 million euros have already been placed, with which households hold 10.4% of the total amount in bills, according to data from the Public Treasury collected by Europa Press.
The 11,300 million correspond to a household investment in Treasury bills of 3,695 million euros during the month of January, an amount that households doubled in February to 7,613 million euros.
The figures contrast with the amount that Spanish households invested in bills at the beginning of last year, barely 16 million euros in January and February 2022, or what is the same, 0.02% of the total amount invested in letters. At that time, the profitability of the bills had a negative interest rate of 0.5%.
In the last year, the interest offered by Treasury bills to savers has not stopped rising, as a result of the recent upward movements in the interest rates of the European Central Bank (ECB), and in the last auction of bills held by the agency, the marginal profitability has been between 3.09% for the three-month reference and 3.222% in the case of 9-month paper, in both cases the highest amounts in more than a decade.
In fact, the fever of families for Treasury bills by families has forced the Bank of Spain to establish a prior appointment system since last February 7, after the long queues observed at the beginning of the year at the headquarters of the agency for the purchase of State bills given their high profitability.
