ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Grenada’s first retail bond programme, which was launched in October to raise five million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) on the Regional Securities Market, has failed to raise the targeted amount.
When the bidding process closed on November 21, only EC$4.3 million had been raised.
The bonds were auctioned from October 31 to November 21. They were assigned on a first-come, first-served basis for citizens of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), namely Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The brokers were those already approved by the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE), with a minimum investment of EC$500 and a maximum of EC$50,000.
In a pre-recorded interview disseminated by the Ministry of Finance, Kerry Pierre, head of the Debt Management Unit, described the auction as successful despite not being able to achieve the targeted amount.
“We have been very successful in the completion of the auction of the first pilot retail household bond. On the fifth of December, when the auction closed, we closed with a total bid of EC$4.3 million. So, for an auction of five million EC dollars, we were able to close at EC$4.3 million,” he said.
“While some may query why not five million EC dollars given the pre-interest shown, we have to remember that this is the first time for this particular auction, and it was learned along the way,” he said in the interview with the Ministry of Finance Communications manager, Kerry Pierre.
“We had the interest, we saw the bids coming in, albeit they started a little bit slowly, as persons were trying to get they feet wet, to make certain they had all of they document ready or prepared, they transfers prepared, as the time pass we saw the number of bids increase right down to the 05 December when we closed at 2:00 pm.”
More than 350 people participated in the auction, which is a two-year government-backed bond offering a fixed annual interest rate of 4.25 per cent with semi-annual payments in May and November of each year.
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