Debt Portfolio Management Quarterly Report - 1st Quarter 2023
The Ministry of Finance presents, in accordance with the calendar of published information, the Debt Portfolio Management Quarterly Report, which contains the state of fulfilment of the operational funding programme and issuance activity plans in relation to the announced strategic targets and limits specified in the Czech Republic Funding and Debt Management Strategy for 2023, which was published on 3 January 2023. It also includes regular quarterly evaluations of primary dealers for the period from the second quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023.
The absolute nominal value of the state debt reached CZK 2,997.0 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2023. Compared to the end of 2022, there is an increase of CZK 102.2 billion. In relative terms to GDP, there has been an increase in state debt from 42.6% to 42.9%, i.e. by 0.3 p.p. This is mainly due to the sale of government bonds with a maturity of more than one year and state treasury bills during the first quarter of 2023 for the purpose of the ongoing coverage of the state budget deficit.
During the first quarter of 2023, the regular issuance activity of the state was carried out in the standard mode, during which CZK-denominated medium-term and long-term government bonds with a maturity of more than one year in a total nominal value of CZK 141.0 billion were sold. State treasury bills in a total nominal value of CZK 94.6 billion and EUR 2.0 billion were also sold.
State treasury bills denominated in the euro are registered in the Central Securities Depository Prague and are also eligible for Eurosystem credit operations. On 18 January 2023, a pilot multiple-price auction of three-month state treasury bills denominated in the euro was carried out, when state treasury bills in a total nominal value of EUR 1.0 billion were sold with an average yield to maturity of 2.508% p.a. Total demand in the auction amounted to almost EUR 3.5 billion. The pilot auction was followed in February by the issue of six-month state treasury bills in a total nominal value of EUR 1.0 billion with an average yield to maturity of 3.102% p.a.
The five best-evaluated primary dealers of Czech government securities for the period from the second quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023 were KBC Bank NV / Československá obchodní banka, a. s., PPF banka a.s., Société Générale / Komerční banka, a.s., Erste Group Bank AG / Česká spořitelna, a.s. and J. P. Morgan SE.