The Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) is expected to issue another batch of government savings bonds, worth 70 billion baht, in the second quarter of next year to satisfy high demand, says director-general Patricia Mongkhonvanit.
The PDMO plans to offer total savings bonds worth 150 billion baht in fiscal 2022, of which 80 billion was the first batch available between Nov 15-Dec 3. They sold out soon after becoming available, Mrs Patricia said.
The bond issuance is to offset the country's budget deficit in fiscal 2022.
She said attractive interest rates for the first batch was a major reason for investors' enthusiastic response.
For example, the five-year bonds offer an average interest rate of 2.1%, while the 10-year bonds offer an average rate of 3%. The government bonds also carry low risk.
The timing of these bond offerings is designed to appeal to investors, as their release differs from corporate bond issuance, said Mrs Patricia.
In the first batch, bonds worth 10 billion baht were available to individual investors on the "Sasom Bond Mung Kung" e-wallet, abbreviated to "Sor Bor Mor" in Thai, on Krungthai Bank's Pao Tang mobile app. These bonds were sold out within 12 minutes after the offering started on Nov 15.
Of the remaining 70 billion baht, bonds worth 55 billion were for individual investors. They were offered between Nov 22-Dec 3 at the counters of four dealer banks -- Krungthai Bank, Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank and Siam Commercial Bank -- and their mobile banking apps.
The remaining 15 billion baht of bonds was for non-profit organisations. They were on offer only at the counters of the four bank dealers from Nov 24-Dec 3.