Investors Again Shun Gov’t Bonds

Investors of fixed income assets refused to participate in the government’s weekly bond auction for the third week in a row.
The bonds also were undesired by banks, financial institutions and investors in the stock market.
Bonds on offer were worth 225 trillion rials ($970 million). The Central Bank of Iran said the next auction will be held on June 21.
So far the CBI has held four weekly auctions since the beginning of the fiscal year. Except for one where the government earned 10.4 trillion rials ($45 million), the rest fell flat. Only one bank partook in the second auction in which debt worth 15.6 trillion rials ($67m) was sold. Stock market investors didn’t participate in the past three auctions.  
The Economy Ministry says the bond policy is tied to the search for funds to meet budgetary needs and is in line with the budget law. The government opted for the bond policy to plug its deepening budget holes instead of borrowing from the CBI that over the years has produced the unending hyperinflation with consumer prices going through the roof.