The ministry planned to sell 500 million lei (EUR111 million) in a reopening of its June 2019-bond.
“The treasury did not have an immediate financing need, but wanted to stick to the announced calendar for predictability reasons. The cancellation signals that the ministry is not willing to accept high yields on temporary situations,” banking sources told MEDIAFAX.
According to dealers, the yields of Romanian bonds spiked after the Russian central bank increased its monetary policy rate Monday evening in an attempt to contain the ruble’s slide.
“The cancellation of the tender was somehow expected, given that the finance ministry had the same stance earlier this year in similar circumstances related to the Russian troubles,” the sources said.
So far in 2014, the country sold around RON40 billion in leu-denominated notes and EUR928.7 million at four euro-denominated auctions on the local market.
The ministry also tapped international markets for $2 billion at a two-part U. S. dollar bond issue in January, and raised EUR2.75 billion in two ten-year Eurobond issues.