The government is selling 20 trillion rials ($540 million at market exchange rate) worth of Islamic Treasury Bills through Bank Melli as repayment of overdue debt to non-government contractors.
The bonds–only transferable to other contractors and issued with the name of the contractor–were given to Energy Ministry contractors and can be redeemed at Bank Melli next winter in October and November, IRNA reported.
The bonds do not have any coupons and are given at a discount to their face value.
“We are issuing these bonds to repay government debt to non-government contractors as part of the 2015-16 budget law,” said Rahmatollah Akrami, who is also a deputy economy minister.
Earlier in December, Akrami announced that the total value of the electronically issued bonds amounted to more than $1 billion by then since they were first launched on September 30.
