Qatar Sells $1.1 Bln T-Bills

Qatar is offering the highest yields in the Gulf Cooperation Council on treasury bills as the nation hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup seeks to deepen its debt market.

The Qatar Central Bank paid an average yield of 2 percent on the 4 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) of notes issued at its monthly auction yesterday, its governor, Sheikh Abdullah Saud Al Thani, told Bloomberg. The world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas sold 2 billion riyals of three-month securities and 1 billion riyals each of six-month and nine-month bills. That’s above yields on similar-maturity bills in Saudi Arabia (KSTBY91), Kuwait and Bahrain, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“The yield on the T-bills was 2 percent on Tuesday, and was 2 percent the previous month,” Sheikh Abdullah said. The central bank pays an average of 1 percent on overnight deposits, he added.
Qatar’s central bank began selling treasury bills in May and started listing them on the country’s bourse on Dec. 29 “as a first step toward starting a secondary market” for debt.