Debt Portfolio Management Quarterly Report - 1st Half of 2022
The Ministry of Finance presents to the public the Debt Portfolio Management Quarterly Report, which contains, in particular, the evaluation of the announced strategic targets and limits, the operational fulfilment of the funding programme, and issuance activity plans, which were specified in the Czech Republic Funding and Debt Management Strategy for 2022 published on 6 January 2022 and updated on 1 April 2022. It also includes regular quarterly evaluations of primary dealers for the period from the third quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022.
The absolute value of state debt reached CZK 2,707.7 billion at the end of the first half of 2022, which represents 42.3% of GDP. Compared to the beginning of 2022, there is an increase of CZK 241.9 billion. This is mainly due to the sale of government bonds with a maturity of more than one year during the first half of 2022 to pre-finance the September redemption of the Czech Republic Treasury Bond, 2007–2022, 4.70% in a total nominal value of CZK 70.5 billion, and the ongoing coverage of the state budget deficit, which reached to CZK 183.0 billion at the end of June.
During the first half of 2022, the Ministry of Finance sold medium-term and long-term CZK-denominated government bonds in a total nominal value of CZK 217.0 billion. In addition, two new issues of the “Dluhopis Republiky” government bonds were issued in a total nominal value of CZK 41.1 billion. New tranches of already issued government bonds in the form of reinvested yields were also issued in a total nominal value of CZK 0.6 billion. In total, the Ministry of Finance sold government bonds with maturities of over one year in a total nominal value of CZK 258.7 billion, thus covering all CZK-denominated redemptions of state debt in the first half of the year and preparing to cover the remaining CZK-denominated redemptions of state debt this year.
In the first half of 2022, the regular redemptions of the foreign issue of government bonds issued on the foreign markets in 2012 in a total nominal value of EUR 2.75 billion were carried out. These redemptions were covered by short-term loans on the euro money market and the issuance of a new issue of government EUR-bond on the domestic market under Czech law maturing in 2024. In the first half of the year, the Ministry of Finance issued on the primary market the Government EUR-Bond of the Czech Republic, 2022–2024, 0.00% in a total nominal value of EUR 743.2 million.
On 28 June 2022, the Czech National Bank, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, published the fourth version of the Rules for the Primary Sale of Government Securities organized by the Czech National Bank, which are valid for the sale of government securities issued under Czech law. The new version of the rules makes it possible to issue government bonds under Czech law on the primary market also in the form of direct sale through the Czech National Bank to pre-determined primary dealers and recognized dealers. It also allows state treasury bills to be registered now, in addition to the Short-Term Bond System, in the Central Securities Depository Prague, which makes it possible to issue state treasury bills in a single European currency. It will also be possible to organize auctions of state treasury bills in the form of the american auction.