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May 24, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 27
bne:Banker Turkey reportedly
leaning on local banks to buy more government bonds in debt auctions
Azerbaijan ‘has no plans’ to privatise largest bank IBA this year
Economically embattled Turkey is leaning on local banks to buy more government bonds in debt auctions, three people with direct knowl- edge of the matter were cited as saying by Bloomberg on May 20.
The move will be seen by the markets as the latest sign of the gov- ernment’s increasingly interventionist approach to policy making. The sources reportedly said that Turkish authorities asked some of the nation’s primary dealers to support the government’s borrowing drive last week. The banks, they said, were asked to bid for more bonds than they needed in their roles as market makers.
The development comes amid a substantial loosening of the fiscal purse strings.
Azerbaijan has no plans to privatise the International Bank of Azer- baijan (IBA) this year, Samir Sharifov, Azerbaijan’s finance minister, told Reuters on May 17.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in February it could start discussions with the hydrocarbon- rich country’s biggest bank over its privatisation later this year.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in 2015 ordered the privatisation of IBA after a clean-up to get rid of distressed assets resulting from poor management. Two years later IBA proposed a plan to re- structure $3.3bn of its debt, later receiving approval from creditors holding 93.9% of the affected debt. The restructuring process was completed with funds from the finance ministry, which holds more than 91% in IBA.
Serbia plans to call an auction for a second package of non-per- forming loans (NPLs) in October, Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said at a press conference broadcasted by Tanjug.
The government has already successfully sold one package of NPLs earlier this year in its first tender for the sale of a portfolio of NPLs. The package worth €240mn was sold in February to German financial company EOS Matrix. The portfolio included loans from Serbia's insolvent Agrobanka, Nova Agrobanka, Univerzal Banka, Privredna Banka Beograd and Razvojna Banka Vojvodine.
As of end-June, the share of gross NPLs held by Serbian banks decreased to 7.8%, reaching its lowest level since 2008, according to the newest data from Serbia’s central bank.
Serbia to call auction for second €240mn NPL package