The Dutch treasury sold an extra tranche of short-dated T-bills at its debt auction to ease exceptional demand in its overnight lending markets, a spokesperson told Reuters. This is its second such move this month and comes after the Russian invasion of Ukraine boosted demand for top-rated German and Dutch securities, causing a shortage in repo markets.
A memo seen by Reuters showed that the debt office raised €410 million from a bill due 30 August 2022. The issue was not part of the Netherlands’ original issuance plan for this quarter. The debt office had already topped up this T-bill on earlier, raising €230 million euros. The same day it also reopened a bill maturing in April, and raised €450 million euros.
Both issues were in addition to its regular issuance program, and aimed at easing tensions in the repo market, which became illiquid, finance ministry spokesperson Sophie Petiet said., adding: “We will closely monitor the secondary and repo markets to see if we need to make more adjustments going forward.”