KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent — The government’s EC$40 million 10-year bond issue auctioned on the Regional Government Securities Market on Friday using the primary market platform of the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE), was oversubscribed by EC$285,000.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning said in a statement that a competitive uniform price auction methodology was used and the closing rate was 7.5 per cent.
Three licensed intermediaries placed 20 bids, ranging from EC$10,000 to EC$10 million with an aggregate value of EC$40,285,000.
“The success of the bond issue reflects the public’s confidence in the RGSM and in particular securities issued by the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Indeed our monthly issues of Treasury Bills have been well supported and are usually oversubscribed,” the statement said.
The proceeds from this issue will be used to finance projects in the Public Sector Investment Programme in accordance with the macroeconomic programmes as contained in the 2012 Estimates.
Some of the projects to be financed include: improvement of education through ICT, upgrading of the Administrative Centre, the Population and Housing Census, upgrade of the Fire Service, rehabilitation of the Windward Highway, the completion of the Medical Complex and the completion of the Customs and Excise building.
The next major activity — apart from the monthly treasury bills — would be the Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines scheduled for next month. Under this IPO the government would be offering for sale 2 million shares of the bank at approximately EC$8.65 per share.