Qatar central bank offers $824m of government bonds for sale

Qatar’s central bank is offering QAR3bn ($824m) of government bonds in its second domestic bond sale this year, according to a circular seen by Reuters.

The central bank only issued its first domestic bonds this year in August when it sold QAR4.6bn of conventional and Islamic government bonds.

Bids for the latest offer were due on Monday, with allocations to be made the following day, according to the offer document.

Nobody was available to comment from the central bank.

The offer is made up of QAR1.5bn of three-year bonds at a fixed rate of 2.25 per cent, QAR1bn of five-year debt at 2.75 per cent, QAR250m of seven-year debt at 3.25 per cent and QAR250m of 10-year debt at 3.75 per cent, according to the document.

Falling state revenues due to low oil and gas prices have slashed financial inflows into the banking system this year, raising money rates and causing the central bank to cancel several monthly sales of short-term bills.

Since June, however, money rates have come off their highs, with the three-month interbank offered rate quoted at 1.57 per cent on Sunday, down from June’s multi-year peak of 1.77 per cent though still up sharply from 1.17 per cent 12 months ago.