The Government Postpones Renewal Of Its Local Bond Auctions

Deputy Finance Minister, Vadim Kopilov, yesterday announced that the auctions planned by the government scheduled for April won’t be held due to political instability. He also regretted that the government has to wait until politics cool down and can’t benefit from strong economic performance by attracting money at favorable terms.  Oleksandr Klymchuk: As we reported earlier the Finance Ministry had planned to offer five instruments with two, three, five, seven and 10-year maturities. It was the first time the government planned issues with such long tenors.  If not for the political crisis, the authorities could successfully meet the planned target of UAH 3.8 bln (USD 750 mln) for domestic borrowing in 2007 as, apart from strong macro, there is healthy local liquidity and no threat of devaluation on the horizon.  Now we expect the auctions to take place no earlier than July.