Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Khalilova / The Azerbaijani Government is developing an action plan on the issue of the long-term T-bills in 2008 and the expansion of the investors, the Finance Ministry stated on 26 December. The preparatory work is carried out for the issue of the securities for the term of two, three and five years.
The only obstacle, the Rules for issuing and circulation of securities was also removed. Earlier, the rules allowed the issue of securities for the term of only 1 year. Since 2006, the Finance Ministry for the first time issued annual state short-term bills, which currently enjoys high demand.
Over the past few years, there is an increase in the number the participants in the securities market. Although, earlier major buyers were the banks, but now the insurance companies and the other legal persons are also considered. Thanks to the available interest rate ranging from 10 to 11 percent, the demand for them has increased amongst the foreign investment funds and banks, through some investors recalled their funds due to world crisis in liquidity, Khayal Abdinov, the chairman of the Baku-Stock Exchange, stated. He expects the increase of interest towards the Azerbaijani securities market.
The Finance Ministry said that 80mln AZN has been collected after the placement of the T-bills, projected in the 2007 public budget to cover the public budget deficit.
It is planned to apply new tools in the 2008 public budget for the individuals, who cannot participate in the securities market at present, so as to withdraw idle money mass from the circulation. These securities will be alternative to the state bonds, which have been placed through the state-run bank Kapital Bank till 2006.