The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has sold 33.4 billion Br worth of treasury bills (T-bill) over the past three months of the current fiscal year. The budget deficit has been fully covered by the revenues generated from the sale of treasury bills, according to Yinager Dessie (PhD), governor of the central bank. "The Ministry of Finance has borrowed nothing from the central bank unlike previous times," said Yinager. Last December, the central bank reformed the T-Bill market by making the market determine the yield rate of the bill, aiming to attract banks and insurance companies as well as individuals with cash to participate in the primary market through auctions. Previously, the average weighted yield of the T-bills stood at 1.42pc, which is far lower than the minimum deposit interest rate in the market, which stands at eight percent. "This attracted financial institutions to buy T-bills," Yinager said. On behalf of the Ministry of Finance, the central bank has been issuing four types of T-bills with maturities of 28, 91, 182 and 364 days based on the borrowing demand of the Ministry and the liquidity situation as forecasted by NBE.
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