ECB Monetary Operations

On Monday, 20 April, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 21 April, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €95.74bn, €0.82bn lower than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.05%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, 22 April, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation was carried out at a fixed rate of 0.62% and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties.

 Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day maturing on 24 July. Bids of €43m were submitted for the bills, with the Treasury accepting €13m. Since €13m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained unchanged at €201.19m.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.00%, unchanged from the bids with a similar tenor issued on 2 April, representing a bid price of 100 per 100 nominal.

During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

This week the Treasury will invite tenders for 92-day bills, maturing on 31 July.