Demand was skint, standing at just RON241 million.
So far this year Romania’s finance ministry has failed in raising its planned amounts, resorting to partial allocations and even rejecting all bids on state paper, as local banks pushed for higher yields as they face uncertainty over a surprise tax on assets introduced in late December 2018.
The Romanian government introduced in late December 2018 a surprise tax on bank assets that will have banks pay a progressive tax of 0.1%-0.5% of assets if money market interest rates exceed 2%. It is yet unclear whether the tax would be levied annually or quarterly.