Kenya invited bids on Tuesday for a 14.5 billion shilling ($187.9m) eight-year infrastructure bond with a 9.75% interest rate for its roads, energy and water sectors.
The Treasury plans to raise a total of 32.9 billion shillings in infrastructure bonds this fiscal year.
In December, it raised 18.42 billion in a 12-year bond with an average interest rate of 12.537%.
“Building on the market confidence in government securities and public goodwill in supporting infrastructure development ... the government is now targeting to raise the remainder 14.5 billion shilling as final tranche for infrastructure bonds allotment in the 2009/10 financial year,” the central bank said.
The bond will be on sale until February 24 and will have a value date of March 1, 2010.
A total 8 billion shillings will be spent on road building and refurbishment of civil works, and another 3.5 billion will be used for irrigation projects and flood control, the bank said in a statement.
Exploration of geothermal energy sources will receive a further 2.2 billion.
The government is banking on infrastructure bonds to fund ambitious spending aimed at supporting growth in east Africa’s largest economy. Its debut issue in the first quarter of 2009 received a subscription rate of 145%, while the second had 238%.
Appetite for Kenyan government bonds has surged in recent months. In a report, Kenya’s Stanbic Bank said the volume transacted in January was 27.4 billion shillings, marking a 72% improvement compared with December 2009.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan shilling clawed back losses on Tuesday that it made in the last couple of sessions, and traders said they saw it gaining more ground towards the 76.50 level.
Reuters
